Not Yet, Early Bird!

Helping Kids Stayin Bed Until Morning

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Cover of Not Yet, Early Bird! — Sunny the chick in green striped pajamas leaping off his bed beside Tick-Tock, glowing green at seven o’clock.

About the Book

Sunny is an EARLY BIRD who is ready to start his day before his family.

With the help of Tick-Tock, his color-changing cuckoo clock, Sunny learns that red means stay in bed, yellow means morning is almost here, and green means it’s finally time to get up.

Not Yet, Early Bird! turns an all-too-familiar sleep struggle into a playful story that helps young children understand their color-changing clock and practice waiting for morning… all while building confidence and independence.

Why a Color Clock Works

Little ones’ internal clocks are still developing. Many don’t understand the difference between I’m awake and it’s time to get up. A color-changing clock gives them a visual cue they can understand long before they can tell time.

With consistency, repetition, and gentle support, children learn what each color means and gradually become more independent in their morning routine.

Calm Mornings Start Here

Red

Stay in bed. Rest your body, rest your head. It is still night.

Yellow

Quiet time. Morning is almost here — books and stuffed animals until then.

Green

Time to get up. You waited for green, and the whole day is ready for you.

Inside the Book

Where to Buy

Cover of Not Yet, Early Bird!

Not Yet, Early Bird!

Helping Kids Stay in Bed Until Morning

By Emilia Durkin · Ages 2–6 · Paperback & Kindle

Coming soon to Amazon

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Planning for a classroom, clinic, or library? Ask about bulk copies.

Free Resources

Morning Chart Kit6 pages · ready now

For after you’ve read the book together: four weekly Sunny charts with ½-inch sticker circles, a grown-ups’ guide, and an Early Bird Champion certificate. Comes with an ink-saver version too.

For Grown-Ups
For Kids
For Kids
Coloring Pages9 pages · ready now

Tap the pages you’d like, or leave them all unselected to get every one.

Early Bird Word Search1 page · ready now

Nine words from the story — Sunny, morning, clock, night and more — hidden in a 9×9 grid. Words run left to right or top to bottom, never backwards, so new readers can find them.

Emilia Durkin, author of Not Yet, Early Bird!

Meet the Author

Emilia Durkin is an occupational therapist and mom who is passionate about helping young children build independence through meaningful routines. After seeing firsthand how a color-changing clock transformed her family’s mornings, she was inspired to create a story that makes the concept fun and easy for young children to understand.

Emilia hopes her stories help children build confidence and make everyday mornings a little easier for families.

Questions

What age is this for?

Two to six, with the sweet spot around two-and-a-half to four. Old enough to recognize colors and understand a rule, young enough that telling time is still a long way off. Older siblings usually enjoy being the one who explains it.

Does my child need a clock to enjoy the book?

No. It reads as a bedtime story on its own.

What if we try it and my child still wakes early?

It is not a failure, yours or theirs. Children’s sleep is shaped by far more than a clock, and a new routine usually takes a few weeks before it holds.

What the book gives you sooner is a shared language for the morning: red, yellow, green, and a phrase you both already know at 5 a.m.

If early waking is persistent and wearing your family down, it’s worth raising with your pediatrician. This is a story, not a sleep plan.

Can I use this in my clinic, classroom, or library?

Yes, and we’d be glad if you did. The printables are free for personal, classroom, clinic, and library use. For multiple copies of the book, write to us.