It's bedtime for young Frances, and everyone is ready but her. At 7:00 p.m. Frances is wide awake and bursting with youthful excitement. She tries every delay tactic she can muster—from demanding extra hugs and kisses to volleying a series of urgent last-minute questions ("May I sleep with my teddy bear?" "May I have my door open?"). She's almost positive there are spiders, giants, and tigers in her room.
Any parent will quickly identify with this phenomenon—how the last minutes of the day suddenly become the most action-packed. Garth Williams' illustrations complement Russell Hoban's sweet story perfectly, capturing the endless energy and overactive imagination of Frances, and the waning patience of her exhausted parents. Bedtime for Frances is the perfect goodnight story to tell your wide-eyed children. And never fear, like Frances, they too will eventually, contentedly, drift off to sleep.
While we were reading reviews of this book on Amazon.com, we were amazed (and amused) by all the negative remarks about it. This one sums up the complaints well:
"When we sat down to read it, I was horrified. "Father" smokes a pipe, both parents watch television, and Frances is threatened with a spanking if she doesn't go to sleep. . ."
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