The sleepy rabbit sent to shush young kids into submission now has a side-kick.
Last year Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin’s self-published The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep: A New Way of Getting Children to Sleep was a big hit with parents desperate for drowsy babies. This fall Penguin Random House’s Crown Books for Young Readers will publish a follow-up from the Swedish author, The Little Elephant Who Wants to Fall Asleep, the publisher announced yesterday (June 29).
Ehrlin’s first story starred a tired bunny named Roger slouching his way toward slumber, and claimed to be “based in powerful psychological techniques,” which really read a lot like hypnosis. The book instructed parents and caretakers on how to read it aloud, employing slow and calm tones as well as a lot of [yawns].
The original title sold 1.6 million copies worldwide, and near 100,000 copies in the US, according to Publishers Weekly.
The new book will have a similar aim as the first, but features a sleepy little elephant named Ellen. It will be released in English in the US on October 4 with illustrations by Sydney Hanson.
For parents who are aiming slightly higher than sleepy kids, there’s also the equally hypnotic Harvard-bound rabbit.