I didn't really understand this book, but I liked it. It was very poetic and the illustrations are gorgeous. I read through the whole book feeling like I was just about to get it, but it was just our of my reach. I think the kids will see the book as funny with all the reversed stuff. It would be good to teach opposite, but I think I'd just read it to the kids and leave them with the poetry in their heads without pounding a lesson in on top.

"Sam took a breath and shut his eyes tight.
He thought ten miles left, and ten miles right. "

This is a li'l picture book about a kid Sam who finds it immensely difficult to fall asleep.
I'm gonna try and do this and see if it can cure my lifelong case of insomnia lol

One of the best bed time stories I read in last quarter. An interesting book, even for an adult. Few teach counting while few prefer stories when it comes to kids. The concept is completely different.
The art was beautiful as well.

The Land of Reverse  by David Manousos has a gentle tone with a soothing cadence to the words that suit perfectly for bedtime readings. The illustrations are a great accompaniment. 

The story is about Sam who could not sleep one night. He let his mind wander to the Land of reverse. Everything Sam thought of in reality was backwards. Your hands are your feet, cars drive on the sidewalk, the animals in the zoo have the humans caged and feed them. Sam returns back to his bed happy and cannot wait to return to the Land of Reverse.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Dog Ear Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the story and illustrations. As an adult I like that it is a little dark, I'm not sure it would be great for every child.

For a bedtime story I found the upside-down heads and children in cages strangely disturbing.

The Land of Reverse has a gentle tone with a soothing lilt to the words that suit perfectly for bed-time readings.. Especially the ten miles left and ten miles right refrain.

"Pretend to sleep" is something I think all parents have pulled with their kids at some point in hopes of getting them to accidentally fall asleep. For those kids with an good imaginations, pretending to be asleep and making up dreams to lose themselves in may indeed be a sneaky way of getting themselves to fall asleep. (For me, personally, it always resulted in me having absolutely no desire to go to sleep because I got too interested in whatever I was imagining when I was little! ....and maybe still today when I try it.)

The illustrations are a great accompaniment to the verse. There are literal examples of the surreal dreams that the boy is having, and the angles and colors all work well together. I will say that the little boy has the craziest hair I've ever seen on a kid in a kid's book, but it's kind of charming.

My child really liked the book, which is what pushes me from giving it a three to a four. In my opinion it's a bit forgettable, but in her opinion it was awesome. So, given that in this case her opinion is vastly more important than mine...

The Land of Reverse is well-illustrated, flows smoothly, and is something that kids could read by themselves or parents could read to them. And it's much more interesting to think about The Land of Reverse than it is to try to count sheep!

One night while struggling to fall asleep, Sam ends up in the land of reverse. The Land of Reverse is a place where things are upside-down, backwards, and not quite as they seem. Imaginative and kooky illustrations and gentle repetitive phrases will help lure children to sleep, hopefully full of wild and wonderful dreams like the ones contained in this book.

This was an interesting book, even for an adult like me. The concept was different. The art was beautiful. Recommended for children and adults.

I teach pre-K and although most of my kids are ready to transition out of daily naps, they are still required and it is one of the most difficult times of the day. So I LOVE this book and I have read it to my students many times. I love the rhyming and the silliness; plus the repetition that I encourage the kids to repeat (10 miles left, 10 miles right). Highly recommend!

This story kind of reminds me of Alice in Wonderland for kids. Where everything is topsy turvy in a fun way. I love the illustrations and how it rhymes. A great bedtime story for kids or adults!

The plot is certainly different, and a little confusing. Had I not been told in the synopsis that Sam had fallen asleep when he arrived at ‘The Land of Reverse’, I might of thought that this is the place you will end up if you can’t get to sleep (in the author’s imagination).

Whilst I feel that children will be fascinated with a backwards world, and enjoy the concept of having feet as hands, and hands as feet, the illustrations are a little dark and gloomy and may scare some children.

The illustrations also show Sam trying to get out of the world, and looking sad because he can’t. Would this not frighten a child about to go to sleep?

Whilst I think the story is a joy to read, I would say this would be best to not read at bedtime, or if you do, and you are reading it to a young child, don’t show them the illustrations.

Interesting. Some of the rhymes were a little harsh, and I wasn’t sure of the thinking left and right were supposed to keep coming up. They were grayed out like it was a mistake. It’s not a bad book, but I do not think it will have any staying power in a well collected library.

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I thought this was a cute book but the plot was a little simplistic.

Thanks to Netgalley and respective publisher.

Sweet and Moralistic Graphic children book.
So much indulging and enthusiastic for children.

A really cute bedtime story for the little ones from ages I would say 3 to 6. The drawings are very busy and entertaining. The kids kept stopping me from turning the page so they could look at the pictures. The kids really enjoyed the story as well as the pictures. The story is written in rhyme. It is a very short story as well.

The story is about Sam who could not sleep one night. He let his mind wander to the Land of reverse. Everything Sam thought of in reality was backwards. Your hands are your feet, cars drive on the sidewalk, the animals in the zoo have the humans caged and feed them. Sam returns back to his bed happy and cannot wait to return to the Land of Reverse.

Super cute book! Can't wait to read more from this author

I read this to my young daughters at bedtime and they absolutely adored it! It made them laugh and they began chiming in whenever it came to the line "He thought ten miles left, and ten miles right". When we got done, my 8 yr old told me I needed to leave so they could shut their eyes and go play like the little boy. It was just really cute lol.

It kind of reminded me a bit of a mix of Willy Wonka and Dr. Seuss probably from the craziness and rhyming. I liked that it encourages the imagination.

In the end I believe my kids were the best source of judgement when it came to this book and they loved it so it's in the winner column for us.

This book was a bit confusing. The imagination that it elicits is great--it reminds me of the idea of trying to think of a few impossible things before breakfast, to as an exercise in the imaginary.

Sam, our young protagonist, is having trouble going to sleep, nothing works. Until he decides to pretend to sleep and therein thinks himself 10 miles to the left and ten miles to the right. This transports him into a land where things are in reverse, but more than that things are upside down, backwards and out of place. This imaginary, dream world eventually leads him home where he awakens to the morning.