Again!
Again! by Emily Gravett takes about 2.5 minutes to read aloud (274 words, about 2 sentences a page), and it lands best with children aged 2-5.
Measured read-aloud timeabout 2.5 minutes
- Words
- 274
- Sentences a page
- 2
- Re-read tolerance
- 5/5still fine on the fortieth reading
- Vocabulary
- 2/5everyday words
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The useful verdict
Why Again! works
Cedric demands his bedtime story again, and again, and the story inside the book gets shorter and crosser each time as his mother falls asleep mid-sentence - a child hears their own 'again!' coming out of a dragon's mouth. The book ends with a hole burned clean through the back cover, which every single child checks with a finger.
Before you buy it
The die-cut hole through the last page and board is the joke and it tears if a toddler works at it. It is not damage; it came like that.
Themes: bedtime, dragons, re-reading, mothers, temper.
Same shape, new story
Books like Again!
Matched by length, refrain, sentence density, and listener—not just subject.
Llama Llama Red Pajamaabout 2 minutes · 5/5 re-read
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!about 2 minutes · 5/5 re-read
The Going-to-Bed Bookabout 1 minute · 5/5 re-read
When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry...about 1.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Press Hereabout 2.5 minutes · 5/5 re-read
Llama Llama Time to Shareabout 3 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Interrupting Chickenabout 4.5 minutes · 5/5 re-read
Straight answers
Questions parents ask about Again!
- How long does it take to read Again! aloud?
- About 2.5 minutes at an unhurried pace, from a word count of 274. Reading it fast shaves perhaps a third off; stopping for questions on every page can double it.
- What age is Again! actually for?
- Ages 2-5 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 2 sentences a page and vocabulary at 2 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.
- Does Again! survive being read on repeat?
- Yes - this is one of the few that is still fine on the fortieth reading, which is why it scores 5 out of 5 with us.
- Is Again! a good book for a child who will not sit still?
- It helps that it rhymes, and it has a refrain a child can join in with, and it asks the child questions to answer out loud. Those three features are what keep a wriggling toddler listening, far more than the subject matter does.