The King Who Could Not Sleep

By Benjamin Elkin

Pictures by Victoria Chess

Here is a trippy little gem from 1975. The illustrations reminded me of the Beatles cartoons from the 60’s and 70’s. I remember staring at my dad’s record albums cover while we listened to the record on one of those huge cabinet style stereos. Many a Saturday afternoon was spent reading on the floor quietly while my dad graded papers or painted in our family room. I recommend that this book be read while listening to one of the following songs; "I am the Walrus" "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" or "Strawberry Fields Forever".

This quirky book is about a group of the kings advisors trying make everything quite so a king can sleep. There text is for the most part rhyming thus trickling off the tongue with ease. The end has a little surprise, so that young ones will want to re-read this with abandon.

Written by Benjamin Elkin was an Elementary School Principal in the Chicago area. I couldn’t find anymore info about him, which make him all the more intriguing and therefore readable. He worked with Anita Lobel (wife to Arnold Lobel – of the Frog and Toad fame) on the book The Wisest Man in the World and How the Tsar Drinks Tea. He wrote The Loudest Noise in the World and Gillespie and the Guard which was illustrated by James Daugherty.

The Illustrator for The King Who Could Not Sleep was Victoria Chess. She has illustrated more than 100 books and authored many of her own. She was born in 1939 in Chicago, Illinois. She attended the Kokoshka School of Art, Salzburg, Austria and Boston Museum School. Victoria has been awarded the Brooklyn Art Books for Children citation, the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library, 1973, for Fletcher and Zenobia and American Institute of Graphic Arts Book Show Award, 1975, for Bugs.

So let us see some images from this 1975 flash back….

Does King Karl ever get to sleep.... pick up a copy and find out!