BOXER BABY BATTLES BEDTIME! by Mia Wenjen – REVIEW
For parents of babies, one of the most difficult parts of parenting is getting their child to go to sleep. Whether it’s naptime or bedtime, babies often don’t want to sleep. There’s just so much to see and do! Why sleep, right?
Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! written by Mia Wenjen and illustrated by Kai Geitzen takes a fresh, unique look at this universal dilemma. The author taps into her boxing experience to sprinkle the story with boxing terminology like “Down for the Count” and “Throw in the Towel.” She was inspired when she realized that many terms in our everyday language have boxing origins.
This humorous story features a face-off between a dad and his baby as they mimic a three-round boxing match to put the baby to bed. It’s a tough match as Boxer Baby is not a lightweight and knows what to do to avoid bedtime.
Illustrations wonderfully capture the actions and expressions of daddy and baby as they attempt to outmaneuver each other. Young readers will want to keep turning the page to discover who will win this epic match.
Backmatter includes a glossary of boxing idioms and an author’s note. The author expresses that several real-life boxers inspired her book, including Filipino-American boxer, Nonito “The Flash” Donaire and female boxers Leili Ali, Clarissa Shields, and Katie Taylor.
Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! is a delightful story that children and their parents or guardians will relate to. See below to see how you can secure a copy of your own.
Where to Find Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime
Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! is available in paperback for pre-order on Amazon. This book launches on May 26, 2024, via Eifrig Publishing.
About the Author
Mia blogs on parenting, children’s books, and education at PragmaticMom.com and is the co-creator of Read Your World celebrating Multicultural Children’s Book Day, a non-profit celebrating diversity in children’s books. Her newest picture book is FOOD FOR THE FUTURE: SUSTAINABLE FARMS AROUND THE WORLD, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng and published by Barefoot Books. FOOD FOR THE FUTURE is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, was selected by dPICTUS as 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023, and received a starred review from School Library Journal.
She created, CHANGING THE GAME: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN FEMALE ATHLETES, a middle grade anthology of 17 female athletes from yesterday and today, as a Kickstarter project. It will be also available through Scholastic in June of 2023. She is the co-author of two books with Alison Foley, HOW TO COACH GIRLS (a primer on how to keep girls in sports for coaches), and THE ELUSIVE FULL RIDE SCHOLARSHIP: AN INSIDER’S GUIDE. HOW TO COACH GIRLS won a Silver Award in the 31st Annual IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards™ !
Her debut picture book, SUMO JOE, is illustrated by Nat Iwata and published by Lee and Low. SUMO JOE was chosen by Bank Street College as one of The Best Children’s Books of the Year! Scholastic is the publisher for her middle grade anthology ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HEROES. To find the best diverse books, she wrote BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: MY FAVORITE DIVERSITY BOOKS FOR KIDS AGES 1-12 published by Audrey Press.
She is also the co-founder of Aquent, the world’s largest company staffing creative, digital, and marketing talent with 37 offices around the world. She lives in Boston with her husband, and three kids. Follow her on social media @PragmaticMom on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, & Facebook; and @Mia Wenjen for YouTube and LinkedIn. She’s also @MulticulturalChildrensBD on TikTok. www.PragmaticMom.com
About the Illustrator
Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! is Kai Geitzen’s debut picture book. He is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (2022).
From the RISD website: “Kai Geitzen is an artist and illustrator based in Providence, Rhode Island. His work brings together traditional and digital media to create narrative illustrations of curious characters in immersive worlds.”
Read “Meet Kai Geitzen, Illustrator of Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime” on Mia Wenjen’s Pragmatic Mom blog where readers can view samples of his illustrations and learn more about his artistic journey.
Visit Kai Geitzen’s website at kaigietzen.com and follow him on Instagram @kaigietzen.
