The children of an urban Indigenous family engage in imaginative play, wondering what would happen if everyday activities, such as bedtime, did not exist. The brother and sister create imaginary beings and daydream about imaginary beings from stories. They imagine seeing the healthy food they eat making their muscles stronger and the love they share with their parents as a force field that makes them invincible. Throughout the book, there are clues in the drawings about their heritage (e.g., Mom’s beaded earrings), opening up the story for any Indigenous child to see themselves in the story.

This book is a joint winner of the TD Summer Reading Club 2024 award. The author talks about the book, and the illustrator created activity sheets: https://www.annickpress.com/Books/W/What-If-Bedtime-Didn-t-Exist

Other End Matter: None
Images: Colour illustrations
Contributor Affiliation: Author Francine Cunningham (Saddle Lake Cree Nation), Illustrator Mathias Ball
Bibliography: No
Index: No

Evaluator: Alethea S., Elementary School Teacher, Indigenous Books for Schools

Francine Cunninghamis an award-winning writer, artist, and educator who spends her summer days writing on the Prairies and her winter months teaching in the north. Francine is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta but grew up in Calgary, Edmonton, and 100 Mile House, BC. Francine is also Metis and has settler family roots stretching from as far away as Ireland and Belgium. She currently resides in Alberta and previously spent over a decade calling Vancouver her home.

Her debut book of poems On/Me (Caitlin Press) was nominated for The BC and Yukon Book Prize, The Indigenous Voices Award, and The Vancouver Book Award. Her debut book of short stories God Isn’t Here Today (Invisible Publishing) was longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. Francine also writes for television with credits including the teen reality show THAT’S AWSM! among others and was a recipient of a Telus StoryHive grant. Her fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have also appeared in The Best Canadian Short Stories, The Best Canadian Non-Fiction, in Grain Magazine as the 2018 Short Prose Award winner, on The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Prose shortlist, and on the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize longlist, among others.

You can find out more about her at www.francinecunningham.ca.

Francine Cunningham's profile page

MATHIAS BALL was born and raised in a small Canadian town on the coast of Lake Huron. They are a trans-identified artist and a graduate of the Illustration program at Sheridan College. Mathias also illustrated Every Body Is a Rainbow, written by Caroline Carter. Mathias’s dream is to illustrate a world depicting cute characters and lots of dogs. When he isn’t creating art, Mathias is most likely playing with his Shih Tzu, Lily.

Mathias Ball's profile page

• Joint winner, TD Summer Reading Club
• Commended, Purple Dragonfly Award

“What if there was a great book about kids’ artful, joyful imagination? Oh, wait: Here it is!”

Kirkus Reviews, 03/01/24

“With a little imagination the children turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary adventure. Glorious illustrations bring their imaginings to life on every page.”

Youth Services Book Review, *starred review, 02/03/24

“As bedtime begins, loving wishes provide invincibility for more far-out dreams—encouraging readers to lean into their own what-ifs.”

Publishers Weekly, 01/11/24