“OK, I’ll read Sleepless; it’s from the author that wrote book our class read”, said our 14-year old. This was the process for us assigning, or him choosing the next book he’d read. Sleepless is by Gordon Korman, an author whose name is synonymous with big kid books in elementary school. I didn’t question the youth as to which Kormon book his class read. Go to any elementary school library, and if it’s a chapter book without illustrations, there’s a good chance he wrote it. He’s the kidlit version of James Patterson, and Sleepless is the first book that I’ve read from Gordon Korman.
For the record I’ve never read a book by James Patterson either. So, what is all the hubbub about regarding Kormon’s books? They’re like catnip to elementary school readers, and after reading Sleepless it’s easy to see why elementary audiences gravitate towards them.
Our one concern about the book was ironically said aloud by the 14 YO. The moment I gave him Sleepless I wondered if he, as an ADD/ADHD kid, would presume that he’d become unable to sleep because he’s touched the book. Our cursory explanation soothed his paranoia that flares up at bedtime. I’m confident that the cute dog on the cover helped him a little bit too.
Sleepless is organized much like other books for this demographic. Each chapter is titled by the character whose perspective is shaping that part of the story. There are five main characters in Sleepless, with three of them carrying the bulk of the story. When the book starts, readers get an overview of each character and what they do when they don’t need to sleep. It’s not that these kids want to sleep; they’ve all recently discovered that they don’t need sleep. They go running for hours at night, can practice their schoolwork all night long or become social media influencers across the world. The subtitle to the book is very specific: “What would you do if you didn’t need sleep?”
The kid who runs at night becomes so fast that the football coach requires him to try out for the team. He’s a smaller kid but has become quite nimble due to his numerous runs at night. When he makes the team, he’s confronted with a couple of instances that will challenge his new personality. This new athletic side of him is also causing strife because he’s coming in second place in various school contests.
The new number one student is the girl in our story who doesn’t need sleep. She’s slightly out of his league and he trips over his tongue whenever he tries to talk to her. They’re both curious about this kid on social media who is making waves with funny content. The closer they analyze his posts, supposedly from the other side of the world, they notice details from their school in his comments.
Eventually, all five kids realize they have the same secret, but why have they suddenly been affected by it? They each deal with it differently; some are indifferent to it whereas others treat it like a gift. And what if they had the option to permanently eliminate the need for sleep? The kids do figure out what their common variable is and they each wrestle with that question differently.
What’s surprised me about Sleepless is the chapter length. Chapters can be ten pages or longer, but they’re written at a level that elementary school readers can easily digest. The vocabulary is comfortable and it weaves a fun story that’s plausible (in their imagination) and has the characters dealing with it in a semi-realistic manner. It’s a fun book for elementary-aged readers that has situations that are real enough to believe and fantastical enough to fathom. Moreover, this is comfort-reading food that helps build confidence in young readers. Our 14 YO is certainly on the much older demographic for this author and this book, but if it can build that confidence, we’ll take the win.
Sleepless is by Gordon Korman and available on Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic.
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