Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy by Scott Campbell

Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy Reviews

• 
  Abigail

  Drew Daywalt and Scott Campbell - the author behind the hilarious
  The Day the Crayons Quit, and the author/illustrator of the amusing
  Hug Machine, respectively - join forces in this entertaining new bedtime tale. When Roderick has trouble going to sleep, his parents give him Sleepy, a little stuffed animal meant to help him go to bed. Instead, Sleepy is every bit as resistant to bedtime as Roderick. Will he keep Roderick up indefinitely, or is there a method to his madness...?
  
  I greatly enjoyed Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy, chuckling in a number of places as Roderick becomes more and more frazzled, at being put in the place of his parents, when it comes to Sleepy's reluctance to go to sleep. The ending, in which it is apparent, at least from the illustrations, that Sleepy has been deliberately using this strategy to wear Roderick down, and therefore get him to go to sleep, is particularly droll. I enjoyed the story here, and I thought the artwork paired very well with it. This is the hallmark of an excellent picture-book, and I think this new titles definitely qualifies. Recommended to anyone looking for new and entertaining bedtime stories.
• 
  Garrett

  I wish I had a goodnight buddy--but not Sleepy. What a little shi--
• 
  Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance

  Roderick hates to go to bed, and he uses stall tactics to avoid going. One day his parents buy him Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy, in hopes that he will be able to go to sleep more easily.
  
  Sleepy is a very funny story with lots of kid appeal. The ending is very satisfying.
• 
  Chance Lee

  This is one of those books that hinges on the dramatic irony of a child having to deal with something that is just as annoying as the child is. The main character of this one doesn't quite realize that, making it hard to tell if the book is making fun of this sort of behavior or asking the child to empathize with it and mature.
• 
  Alex Ward

  1) This was kind of funny but I did not LOL. 2) The part where he reads a book aloud was really confusing until I realized he was reading "The Day the Crayons Quit," Drew Daywalt's other book. A very obscure easter egg that I don't think any kid (or most adults) will pick up on, especially with a different illustrator.
• 
  Melissa

  This book is hilarious and brilliant. I love Drew Daywalt.
• 
  Michele Knott

  This will be a great read aloud!
• 
  Kristina Jean Lareau

  4.5 stars
  
  Funny, and a great read aloud.
• 
  Nadine in NY Jones

  This was completely ridiculous and we laughed so much!!
  
  When my kids were little, they loved to laugh at themselves. And they also loved to invent reasons for why they could not yet go to bed, which is exactly what happens in this book. I know they would have LOVED this one!! Sleepy the Goodnight Buddy has excuse after excuse: he's thirsty, he needs a snack, he needs to brush his teeth (twice), he needs a story ... I enjoyed the little meta-joke when Roderick whips out Daywalt's
  The Day the Crayons Quit, and follows this up with "The Witch's Booty," (not a real book so far as I know) which leads to: "there is a witch with a big butt in the closet!" (If your kids love to laugh about big butts, you're in luck here.)
  
  Most of this book is dialogue between young Roderick and Sleepy, so if you're one of those people who likes to come up with a "voice" for each character, be prepared with a stuffed-animal voice and a little-boy voice. This gave me a hard time, because I use the same "voice" for both types of characters.
• 
  Angela

  Oh the irony! Daywalt sure knows how to get kids chuckling. This would make a funny read-aloud for a school visit, especially for kindergarten and up, as story includes the phrase "witch's butt." Made me laugh. Geared toward older kids and adults, the latter most of all I believe. Scott Campbell illustrations are delightful as ever and those that loved Zombie in Love (DiPucchio & Campbell) and The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors (Daywalt & Rex) will get a big kick out of it.
• 
  Danica Midlil

  Very glad I listened to my husband reading this one to our children. If I had done it, it would have been creepy, but he gave the weird stuffed animal the perfect mix of innocence and obnoxious toddlerness. Ended up being quite funny.
• 
  Denise

  I Love, love this and so did the Kindergarten classes at Bridgman Elementary School!!
• 
  Jason

  Totally predictable, but also really fun and funny. Great writer/illustrator combo!
• 
  Tasha

  Roderick hated to go to bed, so he would make all sorts of requests and excuses to delay bedtime. Then his parents got him Sleepy, a toy that would help Roderick fall asleep. At first, no matter where Roderick put Sleepy in his bedroom, he could feel Sleepy’s staring eyes on him. Roderick tried to tell Sleepy that it was his job to help Roderick sleep, but Sleepy asked for a drink of water, then to use the bathroom, then to brush his teeth, and on and on. Until finally, Roderick loses his temper turns his back on Sleepy and just goes to sleep. Could that have been Sleepy’s plan all along?
  
  Told in both prose and dialogue, this picture book has a merry voice. Young readers will recognize their own reluctance for bedtime and may not realize as quickly as adults that Sleepy is up to something. The dialogue between Roderick and Sleepy is fast-paced and full of humor. The book reads aloud well and demands a unique voice for Sleepy in particular.
  
  The art really works well with Sleepy being a beautifully creepy toy or creature. His staring huge eyes, striped legs, and puffy antlers are delightfully confusing. The scenes of the two characters in bed next to each other use particularly effective imagery of wide eyes glowing in the darkness, side-by-side.
  
  A great riff on bedtime struggles. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
• 
  Matthew

  From the author of The Day the Crayons Quit (which I loved) comes another hilarious story about a boy named Roderick who doesn't want to go to sleep and tortures his parents. So his parents decide to let the boy get a dose of his own medicine by giving him a stuffed animal named Sleepy, half moose-half bear (a deranged-looking thing), as a goodnight buddy. But things go awry when Sleepy starts talking and doesn't stop talking. If that isn't bad enough Sleepy starts to want things, anything, in order not to go to sleep (wanting water, food, brushing teeth, discussing the meaning of life (oh, good grief!), etc.).
  
  Told through mostly dialogue bubbles, Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy (2018) by Drew Dewalt, with illustrations by Scott Campbell, is a humorous story. Would be great to do a skit with your child with each playing the roles of the two different characters. There's even a nod to Dewalt's earlier book as Sleepy wants Rodrick to read him a story. Good marketing there. It's like when advertisers used to slip their products into the radio shows they were sponsoring. Good thing Dewalt didn't write jingles for a cigarette company. A humorous skit story. I was laughing out loud my cat was worried for my sanity. Illustrations are gold too. - 5/5
• 
  Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book*

  Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Scott Campbell. PICTURE BOOK. Disney Hyperion, 2018. $17. 9781484789698
  
  BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE
  
  AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
  
  In an effort to get young Roderick to fall asleep on his own, his parents buy him a goodnight buddy - a stuffed animal that looks a little like a bear and a little like a moose. This stuffed animal has a hard time falling asleep himself and wears Roderick out with his requests and questions.
  
  I have seen this same story line in other bedtime stories and it is always enjoyable, but this one wasn’t especially funny or charming. I did like the nighttime color palette and the stuffed animal was quirky in a charming way. This storyline works so well over and over again because kids, like all of us, like to see themselves and their needs from a different perspective.
  
  Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher
  
  https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...
• 
  Becky B

  Roderick doesn't like going to bed. He uses all the tricks in the book to stay up a little bit longer. That is until his parents give him Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy. Sleepy is supposed to help him sleep, but Sleepy turns out to be a bit of a handful.
  
  Roderick gets a huge, whopping taste of his own medicine in this story. Sleepy pulls all the stay up a little longer trips on Roderick until he's about to lose it. This idea has been done a few times before in kids lit, the only thing that makes this one different is the illustration style. I can see adults appreciating the irony and humor in this a little more than kids, but maybe I'd be surprised.
  
  Notes on content: Some adults may want to know that there's one use of darn in the story.
• 
  Kelsey

  Age: Preschool+
  Toys: Stuffed Animal
  
  Roderick loves playing the question game with his parents so he can stay up as long as humanly possible, taking advantage of his parents penchant for over-explaining things. When presented with a sleeping buddy, Roderick is bothered by its large, "freaky" eyes and tosses him away only to find out that Sleepy is alive. Sleepy proceeds to drag Roderick through the same drawn-out bedtime production that Roderick just did to his parents, until he is as worn out as they and promptly passes out in bed.
  
  Perfect for fun voices and shared reading, this will be another hit with the preschool and younger elementary crowd.
• 
  Bethany

  Doesn't every parent want their refuses-to-go-to-sleep child to get a taste of their own medicine? Because, of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting a sip of water or needing to talk about Big Questions, but it's exhausting to be on the receiving end of the endless, stalling, feet-dragging requests.
  
  And, just like Roderick, who discovers that Sleepy simply cannot go to the bathroom alone or attempt to sleep without a snack or then go to bed without brushing his teeth or ... or ... or ...
  
  I think this one hit close to home.
• 
  Aaron Loeffelbein

  Anyone who's ever had a kid who just would NOT go to sleep at night (or, in my case, anyone who's ever BEEN that kid), will probably wet their pants laughing while trying to read this book. I almost did! Thankfully, that didn't happen. I did snort-laugh, though, and I laugh-farted once. (It happens). Okay, twice. But anyway, this book comes highly recommended, and I hope that this author/illustrator team decides to pursue a sequel (which is hinted at in the back of the book--also Drew Daywalt has pulled off some pretty good sequels in the past).
  
  Check it out!
• 
  Mama Bearian

  This was a funny book about Roderick, who tries everything he can think of to keep from going to bed. His parents get him a "goodnight buddy" to help him sleep and name him Sleepy. Sleepy isn't sleepy, though. In fact, he acts much like Roderick - asking for thing after thing until he wears Roderick out. It's one of those funny books that works for some and not others. In using words like "freaky," "butt," and "darn," this isn't the right choice for my own family, but some will find it just right.
• 
  Melanie H.

  Roderick to go to bed. Every night he asks for drinks of water, another story and sometimes even a pony. He knows he's not getting a pony, but it's fun to ask. One night his mother gives him a "goodnight buddy" to help him sleep. Roderick finds the toy creepy so he throws it in a closet. All of sudden the toy comes to life and says the closet is scary. Roderick is treated to an evening of the same treatment he gives his parents when they try to get him to go to sleep.
  
  Cute premise, but I think most of the humor will go over the children's heads.
• 
  Christy

  Parents. You are going to love this book as much as (if not more than) your children. When Roderick uses every excuse in the book to stay up late, his parents get him a goodnight buddy. Roderick finds out what it is like to have a "buddy" who refuses to go to sleep!
  I really got a good chuckle out of this book. Been there, done that, right? I definitely recommend this one. It's a great story to read before bed!
  Thanks, Disney, for providing me with a review copy.
• 
  Cindy

  For anyone who has done the nightime routine runaround.
  
  This book cracked me up. A little kid is given a sleepy time buddy, but when it turns out the buddy can talk, we are sent down an endless cycle of him doing everything he can to prolong going to bed. Maybe I found this so hilarious because I am currently many years removed from these antics, but it reminded me vividly of those day.
  
  That, and I envision our children's librarians playing this out during storytime--I can't wait.
• 
  Michelle

  My kids (ages 7 and 9) and I just picked up this brand new hilarious book “Sleepy the Goodnight Buddy” by Drew Daywalk and Scott Campbell (the author/illustrator of “The Day the Crayons Quit” series). Oh my goodness did we laugh so hard reading about a boy who receives a goodnight buddy to help him go to sleep. Let’s just say it doesn’t go as planned! 🤣 We give this book two thumps up! A perfect holiday gift for kids age 4+!
• 
  Sarah

  When Roderick makes too many goodnight excuses, his parents buy him a "goodnight" buddy that turns the tables on Roderick. I love the humor that will likely be over kid's heads, but also the story will be entertaining for kids. I am also interested to see how many kids get that the Goodnight buddy did the same thing as Roderick and that the Goodnight Buddy worked. Don't miss: in the end-pages there's a hint of what Roderick will be needing next...a wake up buddy.