If you did that, I fear that your adorable little girl might become rather restless and bored. That's because while George E. Edenfield's Would You Read Me to Sleep is a big beautiful picture book apparently intended for reading to a young child (that's who picture books are for, yes?), the content of the story is really geared more toward grown-ups.
For one thing, there is a lot of extended description of scenes which a picture-book age child will probably not have the patience to follow. For another thing, the climactic moment that the story is building to is the death of an old man and his entrance into heaven -- not exactly the kind of story little ones usually dig.
Even more, the story is told mostly from the point of view of the father -- watching his daughter grow up, enjoying his final moments with his grown daughter reading to him, worrying about what will happen to her when he is gone. These are not thoughts or emotions that a child can relate to.
Now, I didn't have an adorable little girl to cuddle with while reading this, so I can't give a direct testimonial to its appeal to that generation. It's possible that the lovely pictures will be enough to entrance her into enjoying the story. (Although some of the pictures are lovelier than others. The adults aren't rendered as well as the children. In particular, the depiction of Jesus is very odd-looking.)
Nevertheless, the fact remains that this story speaks to adults. A sentimental, sweet story that will likely move the heart of the grandparent in the rocking chair while hopefully calming the child in his lap.
Disclosure: I received this book free from bookcrash.com in exchange for an honest review.
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