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Summary: One of our favorite bedtime books!
Review: I purchased this book for my daughter when she was two. She is now almost three, and this is still one of our favorite bedtime books. My daughter enjoys (and relates to) the little boy's not wanting to go to bed, and the stalling that is involved. My daughter gets a kick out of the vrrooming car sound. We love to explore every detail together on each page of the charming illustrations. My daughter loves to point out how sleepy everyone gets as the story moves along, making her sleepy too. I especially love the part of the mother and the ending!
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Summary: 16 rambunctious children were hooked!
Review: I substituted in a kindergarten class of 16 noisy, energetic kids for 4 weeks. The children LOVED this book!! We all did the yawning noises together,they loved the rhythmic nature of the prose and were fascinated by the illustrations. The children insisted on reading this book every day for two weeks. It doesn't get better then that for a substititute teacher!
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Summary: A "bad" baby's journey into night
Review: It doesn't take long for the trouble to start in "The Boy who wouldn't go to Bed". Confronted with the age-old parental imperative of "Bedtime", appalled at the absurdity of such a command when "it's still light", and utterly unintimidated by the power disparity involved, the baby retorts with a steely "No!", hops into his car and roars off into the night, leaving his mother far behind. At the outset the illustrations are suffused with a beautiful golden light but as the journey progresses that light begins to fail and we are left to reflect on the wisdom of the baby's decision.This baby is a man of action who is bound to appeal to any child who's ever confronted an "unreasonable" bedtime, or any other "unreasonable" parental dictat. His dynamic response shows from the outset that he is a force to be reckoned with who will not kowtow to authority figures, no matter now mighty. The stage is set for a showdown more reminiscent of "Cool-Hand Luke" or "Braveheart", for it is clear our hero is prepared to match himself against any adversary. No whining, crying or ineffectual complaining here, but a forthright declaration of independence by the baby. Yet as the story progresses it is clear that independence has its price. The baby's long journey into night brings him up against all kinds of dark, mysterious characters, each with their own, sleep-related agenda. The night world beyond the bedroom soon proves resistant (or at least too sleepy to respond) to the baby's efforts to command it and as the tale progresses even the baby's faithful car threatens to fail him. The baby searches in vain for reliable (or at least wakeful) companions to share his adventures but without a Gandalf to help him assemble a "fellowship" his journey to the world of darkness threatens to be a lonely one. And just when it looks like he's really on his own, it becomes apparent that something or someone is pursuing the baby, and not until the book's grand finale do we see who that pursuer is (though knowing parents can probably guess!). The book's message, if it has one, is that there are primordial forces in this world that even a baby with a car should hesitate to match himself against, and that the rhythms of nighttimes and bedtimes are beyond the power of mere children to challenge. Like King Canute, by book end the baby has learned an important lesson about the power of nature and that we all have to sleep sometime. Helen Cooper conveys that lesson with incredible skill. Her beautiful, award-winning illustrations capture the light of the failing day perfectly, and the progression from gold to dusk to gloom enhances the sense of a journey from one realm to another. And at the end of the book we see that the strange creatures and settings our hero encounters have their analogues much closer to home. Like Scorcese's "After Hours", this book is perfect at conveying that sense of things closing down for the night, and the terrors of being caught outside alone, far from home, in a strange territory full of characters who won't conform to our ideas of what is proper night behaviour. It also reminds me of "The Phantom Tollbooth", another child's toy auto journey into a fantastic night world. This is a wonderful bedtime book that is great fun reading to small children (7 and below). The Breugel-like level of detail in the illustrations are an endless source of fascination for small children. Each time you read it there is liable to be a new detail that catches their interest and provokes discussion, though sometimes requiring an adult to improvise explanations for certain illustrations that aren't apparent from the text. The text is simple but fresh, with stimulating repetitions, and lots of opportunities for interactive dialogues between child and reader. The tensions in the story and the sly humour of many of the illustrations and situations make it exciting to read while the relentless repetition of its main theme - the importance of sleep - can be quite sleep-inducing. I've almost fallen asleep reading it sometimes, yet by no means from boredom. It is so easy to identify with that baby, and share his frustration as his efforts to find fellow travellers fail. Right from the opening bedtime showdown I can tell the children I read it to are thinking "Been there! Been there!" We are all torn between rooting for the baby yet worrying about the implications for bedtimes everywhere if he succeds . I would strongly recommend this book for anyone involved with small children.
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Summary: I was misled by all these glowing reviews.
Review: Let me qualify something. I have a two year old. This book is not good for a two year old. Pictures: Poorly done, with some artistic watercolors that are really to dark. Not a bright happy and pleasing in the illustration department. The pictures are really elementary in skill level. Story: This book is really just a huge social message about the loss of habitat for certain animals. I dont think that little kids really can conceptialize this let alone care. The message also offers no solution to the problem. Leaves you hanging at the end as you wonder if you missed something. Text: Not a rhyming book. Actually, just did not have good flow. I hate to be the odd man out here, but for MY purposes - not a book that I would recommend you buy.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: My almost 2 year old son got this book for X-mas.We have been reading it everyday since. He loves it! After reading this book 3 or 4 times he says sleepy now when it is time to go to bed.
I like it because it seems to get the message across that night is for sleeping. Plus it has beautiful illustrations and the text isn't completely assanine. After writing this I am going to but some more of this authors books. Too bad she doesn't have one about going to the potty:)
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: My almost 2 year old son got this book for X-mas.We have been reading it everyday since. He loves it! After reading this book 3 or 4 times he says sleepy now when it is time to go to bed.
I like it because it seems to get the message across that night is for sleeping. Plus it has beautiful illustrations and the text isn't completely assanine. After writing this I am going to buy some more of this authors books. Too bad she doesn't have one about going to the potty :)
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Summary: Excellent and enjoyable book for both parents and children
Review: The first time I read the book, I fell in love with it right along with my 3 yr. old Son. We've read it together so many times now, that my Son has memorized the first few pages! (he says the "NO!" part best). Not only do we love the story, but we also love the illustrations. I went out and bought the book for a friend so she could enjoy it with her son as much as we have.
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Summary: LOVE this book
Review: The illustrations are WONDERFUL and the story is fun. I would recommend this book to everyone!
Rating:
Summary: It works.
Review: This is one of our family's favorite bedtime books. The illustrations are fabulous, but the increasing drowsiness of the text, paced very much like a lullaby, carries the day (or night). It is guaranteed to have me yawning by about page 4, and catches my son's attention even on nights when his toy trains and trucks have far more appeal than the prospect of bedtime. There are some wonderful lines in the text, like the parenthetical notation "(She was a very strong mother.)" that have a way of making you feel good about the Battle for Bedtime. It's a book that's meant to be read out loud. I've bought several extra copies to give as gifts to other parents, and recommend it without hesitation.
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Summary: A new bedtime classic!
Review: What a story! A small boy refuses to go to sleep and vrooms away from his mama in a toy car...on his way to the sleepy world where his toy animals and toy soldiers and train await him. The mother is looking for the boy and will not sleep until she finds him, at which point the boy asks to go to sleep. My 3 year old son loves this book. He likes the independence of the boy who says no to his mother when she asks if he is ready for bed. (As though my son actually articulated this to me). The illustrations are wonderful and the story line is terrific. My son actually yawns when the toys yawn and when the little boy is finally ready to go to sleep, so is my son. Highly, highly recommended!
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