Celebrate National Napping Month with Gail Langer Karwoski's new release

July 30, 2008 - PRLog -- River Beds is the 2008 sequel to Gail’s 2005 award-winning release Water Beds: Sleeping in the World’s Oceans (2007 Teacher’s Choice & 2005 Mom’s Choice). This new release takes readers on an around-the-world boat ride to learn how mammals sleep in or around ten major rivers of the world on all continents except Antarctica. Row down the Mississippi and watch two river otters slip into a hollow tree or look to the bank of the Brisbane River as a platypus pops into a hole and disappears into a narrow tunnel. Told in a soothing style, this book serves as a bedtime/naptime story for younger children or an animal geography book for older children. Adults may learn something, too!

Why celebrate the lost art of napping? Research shows that you can make yourself more alert, reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid-day sleep, or a “power nap”, means more patience, less stress, better reaction time, increased learning, more efficiency and better health. Even if a person gets the recommended 7-8 hours per night, our bodies lag after eight hours of wakefulness—the perfect time for a mid-afternoon snooze, or what the Spanish refer to as “siesta.” Not getting enough sleep has multiple negative effects on your health, which include impaired reaction time, judgment, vision, information processing, short-term memory and performance.

So take some time to relax in August. Curl up in a comfy place and share River Beds and Water Beds with your family. It’s good for your health, and it’s good for your little ones! Go to www.SylvanDellPublishing.com and click on River Beds for more information. You’ll find links to games, puzzles and information on geography and animal adaptations.

About Sylvan Dell Publishing

Sylvan Dell Publishing, based in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., is on a mission to create picture books that excite children’s imaginations, are artistically spectacular and have educational value. The company specializes in “Science and Math Through Literature” and provides free supplemental parent/teacher resources for every title. Founded in 2004, Sylvan Dell’s family has grown to include more than 55 authors and illustrators in the U.S. and Canada, and 35 titles – honored as nominees, finalists or winners of more than 50 book awards – line their bookshelf. For more information about Sylvan Dell’s books, their educational resource grant and free parent/teacher resources, visit www.SylvanDellPublishing.com.