I loved the idea of this book. The younger sister is blind and wakes up in the night and the big sister hangs out with her to give their exhausted mom some time to sleep, when instead she watches the girls. I loved that there was this representation for both exhausted moms and blindness but the book overall was not as enjoyable for me. It just fell flat and was okay.

Read this book to my granddaughter and I must say this is a very unique story and shows a sisters love.

This was a great book with lovely illustrations that made me want to read it again and again. A big sister is taking care of her little sister so mom can get some sleep. The bond between the sisters was wonderful to see. I really enjoyed this book.

A super sweet story about two sisters and what they do late one night while their Mom is, they think, asleep. The pictures are beautiful and the words lyrical. I appreciated the representation of a character with visual impairment where the character is just a girl in the story who happens to be vision impaired. This is not a theme in the story, which is so important in representation of less/never represented groups. A definite to read aloud.

While Mommy Was Fast Asleep is one of the sweetest books I read to my 5 year old daughter. It tells the story of 2 young sisters. The younger sister wakes up during the night and her bigger sister helps her - without having to wake up mommy so that she can enjoy some sleep. All the while...mommy is awake and watching from a distance as her 2 beautiful daughters play during the night. Oh and this is a rhyming book! Which makes it way more fun to read to young toddlers.

I received a complimentary copy of While Mommy Was Fast Asleep though Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a very sweet book about sisters and loving care. The illustrations are colorful and beautiful. It is a wonderful book to read aloud, as the rhymes are lyrical.

We have a family that has a young carer in and young carers.do go above and beyond for those in the family.that have extra care needs, but unfortunately this would not be picked up by a young reader who is hearing this story rather than reading for themselves. The clues that their is someone in the house with a disability let alone the disability being blindness are not.the easiest to pick up.
Due to the blocks of text I can not imagine it would be enjoyable for a child to read but the rhyme within the story works,
This story annoyed me particularly the way the mother looked on as her older daughter nursed her sick younger child. I understand that parenting a child in particular a disabled child can be hard tiring work, but as a mum myself you always find that extra push of energy when your children.are.unwell. The authors notes are likely to be confusing to.a. child if they are even read
Sadly my lasting thoughts are that the parents are either lazy and /or selfish and ot makes me wonder how many times the older daughter has felt the need to step up.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This book is about two sisters who during one night, the youngest wakes up poorly and the older sister takes care of her so as to not wake their mother and let her rest.
The illustrations and clues that the youngest child is blind are clever, but upon reflection I feel that this would only be beneficial to a child who can see.
The children's mother is watching over them all night without them realising but instead of the mother intervening with caring for her sick child, she allows her other child to care for her when the last pictures show their father is asleep in bed too and could have gotten up to care for his child and let their mother rest.
I think the concept of this book is good and the rhyming flows well, but it wasn't as well done as it could have been from a story perspective.

This is one of the most ironic picture books I think I've ever read.

While Mommy Was Fast Asleep is a rhyming story about two sisters who have some domestic adventures one night when the younger one wakes up after not feeling well. The mother watches them throughout the night, and the girls are unaware.

The author states that she wanted to write a book about a blind child where the vision challenges were not central to the plot. I'm afraid I don't see the point of this. In making all the clues about the child's blindness visible ones in the illustrations, it kind of erases the disability for anyone who's just listening to the story!

I have a few other issues with this one, as well. The explanation of the mother's subplot is ridiculous and unnecessary ("The tired mother has spent the last few years fearing that, despite her best efforts, she cannot handle the challenges of raising multiple children in a modern world.") and seems condescending at best. And, to be frank, a mother that lets her eldest child deal with the younger one's middle-of-the-night diarrhea (including an underwear change) while smiling and peeking around the corner seems kind of lazy. Her fears about her own parenting are probably founded.

The illustrations are okay, but some of them are weirdly stretched (the one on the title page is particularly bad). The little clues about someone in the family having vision loss are clever. But, again, if you have vision loss yourself, you won't get to see them; the only way you'd know the child in the story is blind is if someone were to read you the author's notes.

The rhyming text is surprisingly good. It flows well, with pretty good meter. The choice to clump it all into paragraphs, however, is puzzling. It makes the pages seem really text-heavy. I think I would've preferred to see the rhymes broken up into lines like poetry. The font would have to be made smaller, though, which may be why this wasn't done in the first place.

Without the focus on vision loss, this is basically just a story of two sisters, one of whom does way too much caregiving while her mother looks on. I don't have a problem with the older sister reading stories and giving cuddles... but I don't think she should have to deal with her little sister's diarrhea and dirty underwear, especially when Mommy is standing right there.

What a cute children's story!! No one would ever imagine that one of the main characters is blind. It plays absolutely no part in the story at all! None, nada, nope. Just a cute story about a little girl and her older sister getting up in the middle of the night and having fun doing what all kids do with stolen hours! Enjoying doing whatever they want to do... without being scrutinized by an adult who may find what they're doing wrong. Kids should be in bed after a certain time. Right? Every adult knows that! But, every kid knows... that stolen midnight hours are the best hours of their young lives!

What a sweet book! While Mommy Was Fast Asleep is a picture book suited for young children, perhaps ages 3-7. It's a story about a child who is blind and her older sister. The younger child is awake during the night due to not feeling well, and her sister lovingly helps her while trying to be quiet -- Mommy is fast asleep, so they think.

Written in verse, the rhythm makes for a pleasant read-aloud and the font on my digital copy suggests the text is large on the printed page. The black text on a solid white background is also likely an intentional choice to make it more readable for those with certain visual impairments. The full-color illustrations are realistic and interesting to look at -- and I'd encourage you to spend some time on each page really looking at what is depicted, since some crucial details to the story are only revealed in the illustrations.

This inclusive story focuses on siblings' love for one another, and the tender care provided by the older sister. The younger sister's vision impairment isn't addressed in the text, but there are clues in the illustrations. More information is provided in an "about the book" section, which I'm hoping is also available in the final print copy. A teacher's guide is available online.

Recommended for a read-aloud to the younger set, for classrooms, libraries.

Thanks to NetGalley and Vestra Lingua Kids for the free digital review copy.

What an uplifting book. The book shows how even with having a disability like can be lived to the full. It also shows the wonderful connection between siblings. The story just flows with lovely pictures.
It’s also great to see questions from the author at the back of the book. Children can certainly engage with this book.

While Mommy was fast asleep By : Lisa Cole
This is a great book about siblings helping each other . I at first didn’t realize that youngest was blind. i love how the oldest was helping and comforting her. She helped her get cleaned up, get water, and calm her nerves. It is great to see that a older sibling is willing to help the younger one. I recommend this book for family’s and a school library addition.

Cute story about sisters. I wish my boys would take a cue from them and help each other out while I slept. I would definitely recommend, especially to families with girls.

I received an electronic ARC from BooksGoSocial through NetGalley.
Two sisters share a room and the little sister has trouble sleeping. She's not feeling well. The big sister takes wonderful care of her. The refrain comes through that Mommy is fast asleep. Observant readers will see Mommy in several of the illustrations. She lets them support each other. Though it's never said outright, the information comes through from the illustrations - the little sister is vision impaired. Cole leaves it open to interpretation whether she is completely blind or not.
Excellent book for discussion of vision issues and support for families. The details in the art show a family learning braille and creating an environment that is safe for all members.

This is such a sweet story about sisters. I also really enjoyed and appreciated all of the authors notes on the characters. A wonderful story!

Cute children's book about sisters who try not to wake up their momma who is asleep. Great illustrations. Some rhyming text. Special bond between the sisters, as one is blind

A beautiful book about the love of sisters. As a mum to three girls, and with two sisters of my own I love books about bonds between sisters. In this book the big sister looks after her sister at night while mommy is fast asleep. The little sister is blind, although that is not mentioned during the book, but mentioned by the author after the book.
I loved this book and will read it to my girls.

Now this is just the sweetest book I have ever read! The cutest and the love those two sisters have is just beautiful.

This is a sweet picture book told in rhyme about a young girl whose older sister looks after her in the night as she has various problems (feels sick, is thirsty, needs to go to the bathroom, etc.) but their mother is supposedly fast asleep. The younger sister is blind, but that is never mentioned other than in a note to readers at the beginning and the end (at the end you are instructed to go look for clues about this). The illustrations are lovely and it's nice to see the older sister taking such good care of her younger sibling. You can see the mother is actually lovingly peeking in on them often, though they don't realize it. I was a little mystified as to why the children worry so much about not waking up their mother, maybe because I have 5 kids and most of them have no problem coming to me in the night if something is wrong. I also didn't understand why nobody ever mentioned daddy, whom you can see sleeping with mommy in the morning when they finally come to see her in bed. The younger child is sick and seems to have wet herself or soiled her underwear at one point, because she sits on the toilet ("So in the bathroom she sat for a while, her tiny face crumpled, unable to smile") and then her big sister gets her "fresh underwear." I love that the big sister takes care of her so well, but as a mother I don't know why they wouldn't feel justified in waking mommy in these circumstances.

In any case, this is still a sweet little book that deals with vision impairment as simply part of a child's life and nothing to make a big deal about, which is refreshing. It's also great to see such a great sibling role model in the older sister.

I read a digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.