{"id":47041,"date":"2026-10-07T23:24:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=47041"},"modified":"2026-10-07T23:24:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:24:04","slug":"review-of-the-duck-cant-sleep-by-e-b-white-art-by-melissa-sweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=47041","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Duck Can’t Sleep, by E. B. White, art by Melissa Sweet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Duck Can’t Sleep<\/em><\/p>\n

by E. B. White
\nforeword by Martha White
\nart by Melissa Sweet<\/p>\n

Quill Tree Books, 2026. 44 pages.
\nReview written October 5, 2026, from a library book.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

This little picture book is published for children, and I think children will like it, but in many ways its true audience is thoughtful adults who have ever experienced insomnia.<\/p>\n

The text of the book is a poem that E. B. White published in The New Yorker<\/em> when he was a young writer living in the city. His granddaughter writes in the foreword that he often went for a walk around the Central Park reservoir when he had something to think through.<\/p>\n

This book tells about one of those strolls that happened at midnight – when he also found a duck awake and swimming around.<\/p>\n

He has fun thinking about why the duck is up and about so late.<\/p>\n

I wondered if he’d left his kind
\nBecause of something on his mind.
\nA midnight sail to clear his vision
\nAnd help him reach some duck decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eventually, he concludes that the duck simply can’t sleep. But the fun is in getting there.<\/p>\n

And the illustrations by Melissa Sweet are what make this book pop. She’s poured love into them (see her picture book biography of E. B. White, Some Writer!<\/a><\/em>), and each page is a beautiful work of art. The poem is simple and basically in a single setting, but she puts different angles and backgrounds on each page. I like the way you can tell it’s happening at night, but the subjects (duck and man) are lit up.<\/p>\n

Will kids love it as much as I do? Try it out on your kids and tell me in the comments!<\/p>\n

melissasweet.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Picture_Books\/duck_cant_sleep.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Duck Can’t Sleep by E. B. White foreword by Martha White art by Melissa Sweet Quill Tree Books, 2026. 44 pages. Review written October 5, 2026, from a library book. Starred Review This little picture book is published for children, and I think children will like it, but in many ways its true audience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,15,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemporary","category-picture-book-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47051,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47041\/revisions\/47051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}