Product Description

Cecelia is a clever little girl who can do many things, even write her name in pen. But she has a problem that won't go away: she wets her bed. She doesn't mean to do it! She tries very hard, but still, there are horrid plastic sheets to sleep on and soggy nighties to wash in the morning. Then one night Cecelia has the most wonderful dream, about a little mermaid who reveals that she, too, has had this difficulty.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #443229 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal

PreS-K-Even though the four-year-old girl in this rhyming text can do many things for herself, she still wets her bed. Then, one night, she has a dream about an adventure undersea with a mermaid. At dawn, the mermaid confesses that she used to wet her bed. She tells the child, "I'm sure when she was four/the Queen of England wet her throne." The little girl then returns home where her mother wakes her exclaiming, "Cecelia, your coat is soaked!/Your hat is wet! But why,/Cecelia! You clever girl-/your bed is nice and dry!" The dream/reality dichotomy in the text raises some concerns. If readers are meant to believe that the two girls really have this experience, then Cecelia wasn't in her bed all night so of course it's dry in the morning. If it's a dream, the wet coat and hat then confuse the issue. The mixed-media illustrations have a sunny, airbrushed softness. A simple single line defines the cartoon characters, with the mermaid as Cecelia's twin and a sweet sidekick stuffed bear. However, there are several places where the illustrations and text just don't mesh.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

OK but could go further
I got this book because my daughter likes mermaids and I thought it would help with her bed-wetting. Well, it is good in that it makes a child feel like they are not the only one with the problem, but I would have liked it to go further and explain how the mermaid conquered her problem. It ends up with it basically saying that, like magic, the problem will just disappear one day. (I haven't found that to be the case yet!) So, no real helpful info, but it is cute, drawings are nice and it has a nice rhyming cadence to it.

A gentle, rhyming story
Even though Cecilia is a clever little girl who can even write her name, she has a problem that just will not go away. Cecilia wets her bed. Even though she tries very hard, and sleeps on uncomfortable plastic sheets and soggy nighties, simply cannot overcome her bed wetting. Then one night Cecilia has a wonderful dream about a little mermaid who reveals she also has the same problem! Penelope Jossen's lovely artwork perfectly illustrates Jeanne Willis's gentle, rhyming story and will prove comforting to any young readers struggling with this common problem of childhood.