Book Review: What If Your Cup?

A generation ago, parents worried about children sitting too close to the television. Today, the screen follows the child from the breakfast table to the back seat of the car and, too often, into bed. Ofcom’s latest research found that 88 per cent of British children aged three to seven go online, while 85 per cent of children between six months and two years spend at least some time looking at screens.

That makes the subject of Tokesi Akinola’s What If Your Cup? especially timely. Illustrated by Naomi Anidi, the book approaches children’s screen habits through an ordinary household object with a distinctly modern problem: a cup stays awake all night playing on a gadget and is then too tired to perform its job the following morning.

It is a playful idea, but one rooted in a genuine concern. Ofcom found that 37 per cent of children aged eight to seventeen believe they spend too much time on screens. More than half of parents in the same survey felt that their child’s screen time was excessive, and nearly a third admitted finding it difficult to control. The issue has moved beyond private arguments over bedtime. In June 2026, the UK Government announced plans to prevent social-media platforms from providing services to children under sixteen, with the restrictions expected to begin in spring 2027.

What If Your Cup? speaks to the habits beneath that larger political debate. It is not principally about dangerous content, strangers or social-media algorithms. Its concern is simpler and more immediate: what happens when a device begins to consume the time needed for sleep, play and everyday responsibilities?

The tired cup gives young children a concrete way to understand that trade-off. After spending the night scrolling, beeping and tapping, it yawns when the child wants a drink, wobbles about and eventually retreats to its rack for a nap. Rather than explaining tiredness through an adult lecture, the story lets children watch a familiar object become comically useless after a sleepless night.

Naomi Anidi’s illustrations carry much of the humour. The cup is given expressive eyes, thin little limbs and enough mischief to feel like a character rather than a teaching prop. The opening scene, in which its face is lit by a screen in a dark kitchen, will be instantly recognisable to many families. Later images of the cup running away and spilling its water keep the lesson light.

The book is also sensible enough not to present technology as wholly bad. Its introduction asks adults to encourage children to enjoy technology “in balance, as a tool, not a master”. That distinction matters. Ofcom’s research also found that most parents see real benefits in children going online, including support for education, creativity and communication. The problem is not the existence of screens. It is allowing them to crowd out everything else.

This balanced message is reinforced by the closing illustrations, which show children experimenting with science, painting, dancing and running. These activities are not presented as punishments for putting down a device. They are reminders that childhood should include making, moving, imagining and discovering. The drawing and discussion pages also invite children to think about why rest matters and what they can do away from a screen.

The connection between screen habits and sleep is particularly appropriate for the book’s likely audience. The World Health Organization recommends that children aged three to four should have between ten and thirteen hours of good-quality sleep and no more than one hour of sedentary screen time each day. What If Your Cup? translates that rather dry guidance into a picture a child can remember: even a cup becomes hopeless when it refuses to sleep.

The rhyming text makes the story easy to read aloud, although a few lines are more functional than musical. The book is strongest when it trusts its central image and allows the tired cup’s behaviour to deliver the message. Its later emphasis on children having a special purpose broadens the theme, but it also encourages readers to consider what they might enjoy or become when they look beyond a screen.

Overall, What If Your Cup? is a cheerful and relevant picture book for young children, particularly those between four and seven. It enters a serious debate without burdening its readers with adult anxiety. Instead, it uses humour, rhyme and a rebellious piece of crockery to make a modest but valuable point: technology can be useful and entertaining, but it should not steal the sleep, play and curiosity from childhood.