Any parent knows the struggle too well: it's already 9 in the evening, but the little ones are still so active and won't fall asleep. Fortunately, something is ready to help you: a sleep-inducing book.
The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep written by Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin and illustrated by Irina Maununen, is currently being advertised as a novel way of helping children fall asleep after or even before the storytelling is over. Using his background in psychology, he's able to create a book that promotes safe hypnotic and relaxing techniques to calm children down.
So far, many parents may be having trouble with non-sleepy children that the book has already been on the top of the charts in Amazon, ranking sixty-fifth in the best-sellers list and first in the Most-Wished-For Books. It is so successful that Penguin Random House eventually bought the rights of the self-published books. It also has already been translated to English from its original language, Swedish.
The story is about Roger the Rabbit who is having a hard time getting himself to sleep. So together with his mother, he goes out to visit Uncle Yawn. During his journey, he meets other characters in the story such as Heavy-Eyed Owl or Sleepy Snail, who also want to help Roger get the sleep he wants.
To drive the children to sleep, parents are encouraged to substitute Roger's name with that of the child. The author also shared he has used particular sentences, speech patterns, and keywords to promote child engagement and relaxation. For example, in certain areas of the book, the children are asked to yawn.
Although some parents find the book a failure, most have considered it as effective, based on the 3.5-star review it's getting in Amazon. For child psychologists, the book is okay to use as long as it remains safe for the children. Besides, the book carries a warning that it must not be read to someone who needs to be active at the time, such as your friend who's driving a car.