For anyone who has ever craved sleep – and anyone too full of energy to settle down! – a comedy from Bob Shea and Jarvis.

It’s sleepy time for Lion and Penguin. Correction: it should be sleepy time for Lion and Penguin, but Lion’s eyes aren’t tired, and his ears would like a story. Penguin, however, is tired and nods off into sweet dreams … until a noise wakes him. “Oh, are you awake?” asks Lion sweetly, seated before a drum set. “Let’s have that story, then!” And so it goes, with an ever-more-disgruntled Penguin trying to nod off while an exuberant Lion innocently practices his drumming, bounces on his squeaky trampoline, and munches on his crunchy crisps… Will Penguin need to resort to extreme measures to get his friend to sleep, or has the answer been there all along?

Oh, Are You Awake? by Bob Shea is a young children’s picture book featuring a tired penguin who just wants to sleep and an annoying lion who isn’t tired and wants the penguin to tell him a story.

Every time the penguin drifts off into a nice sleep and has a lovely dream it is interrupted by the lion who is very noisy and wakes the penguin up.

The book is very cute and has some beautiful, colourful illustrations that are mainly full-page. The plot will have the reader feeling sorry for the penguin as all they want to do is sleep and are being kept awake by the lion.

There are many words repeated within which is good for new readers, plus, there are large onomatopoeia words too.

Overall, Oh, Are You Awake? is a fun, interesting, and enjoyable read that children will love.

Bob Shea has written and illustrated over a dozen picture books including the popular Dinosaur vs. Bedtime and the cult favorite Big Plans illustrated by Lane Smith.

His characters and animations have appeared on Nick Jr, Playhouse Disney and PBS Kids.

Bob spends his days writing, drawing and having “conversations” with NPR.