Books like Bedtime for Frances
By Russell Hoban
For the kid who has seventeen urgent requests the second the lights go off, Frances is the mirror image of every stalling tactic your own bedtime has ever survived. Cozy, gently funny, unhurried — the quiet rhythm of a house winding down for the night.
A baby llama, tucked into bed by his mama, starts to worry the moment she heads downstairs — his whimpers building into full-blown hollers until she returns just in time.
A wide-awake little boy travels from cave to sea to mountain peak, visiting one sleeping animal friend after another, hoping to find the perfect way to finally rest.
On a rainy afternoon, a snoozing granny, a dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, and a slumbering mouse pile onto one cozy bed — until a wakeful flea bites, and the whole sleepy stack comes tumbling down.
A boatload of animals heads below deck at sunset for a bedtime routine — scrubbing in one big tub, brushing their teeth, doing exercises, and rocking together until every last one drifts off to sleep.
A young dinosaur catches the flu and has to visit the doctor, at first acting cranky and scared before learning that juice, rest, and following the doctor's advice are the way to feel better.
A tidy little mouse works through her whole bedtime routine — drink, teeth, hands, pajamas — and little hands can pull the tabs and lift the flaps to help her get ready.
Enormous dinosaur children stomp, fuss, and fling their toys at bedtime, until each one settles down and says good night the gentle way.
As the sun sets over a busy construction site, Crane Truck, Cement Mixer, Dump Truck, Bulldozer, and Excavator finish their work one by one and settle in to rest for the night.
Deep in a snowy forest, a bear who should be hibernating stays wide awake, so his worried animal friends gather to brew tea and sing lullabies to help him finally drift off.
A frog who can't wait to play in the snow keeps bounding outside half-dressed, and his mother calls him back again and again to put on everything he forgot.
Five little monkeys jump on the bed after saying goodnight to Mama — and one by one, they fall off, bump their heads, and get a call to the doctor.
A little bunny imagines running away — as a fish, a rock, a bird — and each time, his mother imagines exactly how she'll follow and find him.
