Sleeping for Good Health

Children's Literature

One of the series, "Living Well," this book provides information about sleep, an activity we spend one third of our lives engaged in. Text on a third to fourth grade reading level provides superficial coverage on a variety of topics related to sleep, including narcolepsy, insomnia, night terrors, sleep apnea, and stages of sleep. Each double-page spread includes an up to date photograph, usually in color. Photographs are captioned with information that coincides with the text. Some more difficult to understand words are highlighted in the text and defined in the glossary, while others have parenthetical definitions included within the text. Sidebars provide a little additional information about hibernation and dreaming. An address for the publisher's web page provides links to Internet sites on sleep. The book includes an index, table of contents, list of sources for further research, a set of questions and answers, and a "Did you know?" section. These last two sections contain a few additional facts that may have been more useful if included in the text of the book, rather than tagged onto the end. This simple book will be useful for providing an overview on the topic of human sleep for middle grade-schoolers, but lacks the depth that would be necessary for older students. 2004, The Child's World, Ages 7 to 10.
— Leslie Rounds