Digital picture book Monster Jack and Monkey Jessica Go To Sleep, written by Auntie M (elogan1) and illustrated by Ine, is a 24-page tale for preschoolers of adventure, imagination, and teamwork.
In the beginning of this story, one night in the middle of a blizzard, a brother and sister decide to go on an adventure. They spend the middle of the book deciding what kind of adventure to go on. At the end of the story, Daddy interrupts their planning to tell them to go to sleep and adventure tomorrow, to which they reply that the best adventures happen in their dreams.
I like the way the illustrations pair with the text here. They nicely support the message of the text. I do feel, however, that at times the continuity of the style of the art is absent. The illustrations are pleasing to the eye, but the style varies from page to page: sometimes the colors are vibrant and rainbow, while other pages are sepia-toned.
Alliteration is the most dominant storytelling device here. The author uses it to add to the fun of the text: the kids see “Daddy peering into their wonderfully weird world of wistful imagination.” The alliteration and vocabulary of some parts of the text can be instructive for children.
I’m sure that the children for whom this story was written were delighted to read a story about themselves. I think children will like the various silly adventures the children in the story suggest. This is a fun, likable tale with somewhat disjointed art, but the Storbird format through which an author must choose illustrations to fit their text may be part of the reason for this.
The Mermaid's Tale 