Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
Ira Sleeps Over
Written and Illustrated by Bernard Waber
If the formula for How Much I love a Book = Number of Copies Owned, then:
Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber x 5 copies = I love it so very very very very very much.
I have four paperbacks (various vintages) and one hardcover Children’s Choice Bookclub version and still have to restrain myself from buying more when I find them in thrift stores - which is why I am going to give away a copy to a reader! More info on the giveaway is at the end of this post.
I know what I’m really searching for is the library copy I read when I was five, hardback and wrapped in the crinkly protective sleeve. I want to be reading it back in the Children’s Department of the 1970’s Leduc Public Library, where my Mom was a part-time librarian, and the centerpiece of the library was a wooden train, painted purple, with a wooden smokestack, built-in bookshelves and padded seats for kids to sit on. Reading my old books is a shortcut to access childhood places and memories on a visceral level.
I’ve read Ira hundreds of times since that library visit and here are three things I love about it:
The Parents: They have the kind of house I dreamed of living in, an artsy, gentle, vaguely East Coast house in a leafy neighborhood with a piano and a big porch. The Dad plays cello [Just noticed that he is holding an Igor Ostravich record when Ira comes back to get his teddy], and the Mom is reading a book and the newspaper. They have a cat and two fish and a long wooden stairwell that you can hear creaking.
The parents cook dinner together and gently reassure their son that vulnerability and holding on to childhood is just fine. But let’s also have a moment of appreciation for the full-page entry of Reggie’s father when the boys have been pillow-fighting wrestling, and doing magic tricks for hours and his curt: “Bedtime!” What parent hasn’t been there?
Illustration Style
Absolutely the limited palette of goldenrod, green and scarlet in the loose watercolor and cartoon style but especially the multimedia additions, like the page of stamps and bottlecaps, one of my favorite pages in all of kids litl Did this inspire my own collection of old business stamps? Possibly!
Fear and Feelings
Shout out to the whole message of boys' joy, intimacy and vulnerability. It’s a simple but such an effective decision to make the protag a boy and have the voice of doubt and shame come from his sister. The 1970’s seems to be the peak of looking at boys emotions (Alan Alda, Free to Be You and Me, William’s Doll, A Father Like That etc etc) and I want more of it. Also, just acknowledging that sleepovers are fun but also worrying for a kid - what if it’s not comfortable, what if it’s the kind of family who drinks pop at dinner, what if I get scared in the night, what if the house smells funny?
Ira Sleeps Over is 50 this year and feels ageless. I think I need another copy.
If you want to win a copy of Ira Sleeps Over from my collection, email veryquietcustard@gmail.com with IRA SLEEPS OVER in the subject line and/or follow and comment on our IG giveaway post. Winners will be drawn on August 22nd.
Incidentally, there is a live-action 1978 16mm film of Ira Sleeps Over on Youtube and HBO did a Storytime Musical version (with songs!) in 1991 that looks like the book come to life.
