This is really a great book for helping children cope with nighttime fears or fears in general. It would be a good read aloud for bedtime, but it could also be useful in a primary classroom for an SEL lesson on fears.

This is a delightful book with an enticing little heroine and an ingenious mom. Over the first few pages, we meet Katie, and she gives us a quick rundown of her day -- waking up with a smile, playing with her friends, and snuggling with her family. Then she gets down to business and explains that sometimes, only sometimes, when she is trying to fall asleep at night, the Jibberwillies come and pester her. She bravely tries to deal with them herself with a variety of sweet and childlike coping strategies, but when those pesky Jibberwillies prove to be too tough for her, Mom comes up with a fool-proof plan to oust the annoying rascals into the night.

The kids at my house really enjoy this book, and we have read it over and over. Colorful and expressive illustrations by Yumi Heo accentuate both the joyous nature of Katie as well as her sense of bewildering fear. The Jibberwillies themselves are yukky, but not overwhelmingly so.

On the back flap of the book, Rachel Vail, who resides in New York City, explains that she wrote the story in September 2001 and "Lots of people had Jibberwillies right then." This knowledge adds an element of poignancy to the story. With older children, it can also lead to a discussion of the events of that September. My 8 year-old nephew has a fascination with New York City (as well as with reading book flaps!) and we talked about how kids living in the City must have felt and coped during that time.

You can find more information about the author and illustrator in the review on my blog, A Sea of Books. ( )

This book is about a young girl named Katie, who is a very happy girl. Sometimes when Katie goes to bed at night the jibberwillies come out. They are loud and fly all around her room! Luckily Katie's mom knows exaclty how to get rid of them.

I really enjoyed this book because it wasn't your average bedtime story about a child being scared of monsters under thier bed, or the boogie man. This girl had a wild imagination and was afraid of something way different then a monster under the bed!

In the classroom I would have the kids write about what they have been scared of when they go to bed. Also, I would have them come up with different ideas to get rid of those fears and the monsters.

A story about fears that go bump in the night.