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Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book

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Catch a case of the yawns with Dr. Seuss in this classic rhyming picture book. Bedtime has never been more fun!



A yawn is quite catching, you see. Like a cough.
It just takes one yawn to start other yawns off.

Dr. Seuss spins a sleep-tastic tale about a very small bug and a very big yawn that spreads and spreads. Meanwhile, the Audio-Telly-o-Tally-o Count adds up every sleeping creature from the country of Keck to the Castle of Krupp. First one, then seven, all the way to the billions and zillions, the Who's-Asleep-Count just keeps growing and growing! This book is a perfect bedtime story that will have the most reluctant readers laughing, and the most reluctant sleepers snoring!

Ninety-nine zillion, nine trillion and two
Creatures are sleeping!
So...How about you?

58 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1,1962

This edition

Format
58 pages, Hardcover
Published
July 24, 2012 by New York: Random House
ISBN
ASIN
Language
English

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About the author

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dr. seuss

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Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he'd made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!"

In 1936 on the way to a vacation in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship's engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.

During World War II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.

In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel's publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat, which went on to instant success.

In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham. Cerf never paid the $50 from the bet.

Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.

Also worked under the pen name: Theo Le Sieg

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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100 reviews All reviews
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Shylly
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Yes, it's a nice book.

Yes, I read this in bed.

Yes, I started to become sleepy.

Yes, I kept yawning.

Yes, it's the perfect sleep book.
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NearTu
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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While I had some Dr. SUess books as a small kid, I don't remember them being a huge thing and I am enjoying reading them as an adult.

In this one... well it is a classic Dr Seuss panorama of weird names and impossible creatures going to sleep. The overwhelming (and very funny) conclusion one gains as an adult that it was designed solely to get kids to bed, kind of a more politically correct and kid friendly Go the Fuck to Sleep.

Some very pretty artwork in it too.
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Ronron
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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the sleep book is quite effective, I'm happy to report. I was yawning by the 4th page. i would argue that it's really effective in getting children to go to sleep. love the rhymes as usual.

"A yawn is quite catching, you see. like a cough.
it just takes one yawn to start other yawns off."

"They're sleeping on steps! and on strings! and on floors!
In mailboxes, ships, and the keyholes of doors!
every worm on a fishhook is safe for the night.
every fish in the sea is too sleepy to bite.
every whale in the ocean has turned off his spout.
every light between here and far foold is out"
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MaeSis
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I can't say this is one of Seuss's bigger hits. It's jibbly jabble about sleep. While it rhymes, there isn't really a story to it. It's too long and kids (and adults) zone out before it is close to being done. I always groaned when the kids brought it to me to read because I knew that we would be bored out of our gourd and fatigued before it was done. So, if the book's goal is to PUT you to SLEEP, then maybe it accomplished its goal. It's not a Seuss book that I would run to add to my Seuss library.
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EDick
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Warning: This book should be read in bed! It's such a cute book, even though there's not really a point except to point out all the creatures sleeping, and implying the reader should be sleeping too! What I love about it is it's classic Dr. Seuss, and it's great! How in the world did this man not only draw these fabulous creatures, but the funny names and the story lines?

Anyone who thinks he is not the best thing since sliced dough
Needs to be run over by the Hoop-Soup-Snoop Group,
So I'm bothering telling you so,
Because they are not in the loop!
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DiegoCCamara
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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So, it is said:
“This book is to be read
in bed.”

So, I waited and read,
Read a few books in my bed,
all snuggled and fed.

Now’s time to sleep,
and instead of counting sheep,
I read Sleep Book, while twirling my feet.

Hollerin’ a giggle and a yawn
HEEhee-in’ and HAha-in’
Turns off the light, I’ll be sleepin’ till dawn.

-Me


Yawns are completely contagious!

This rhyme thing is catchy after you read 20+ Dr. Seuss books in a row to revisit your childhood. I feel this urge and compulsion to rhyme every time I write or speak. I feel gross when I don’t. Clear sign it’s time to really go to sleep!
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