Product Description

It's seven o'clock and bedtime for Frances, but she is not yet tired. She needs a glass of milk, a piggyback, goodnight kisses and a room free of tigers, spiders and giants. But she still cannot sleep till her father patiently explains why it is important for her to bright and cheerful for school the next day. Then, she finally falls asleep dreaming of all the creatures she had seen in her room at bedtime.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1490118 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Amazon.com Review
It's bedtime for young Frances--an adorable and irrepressible little badger--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's 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. (Ages 4 to 8)

Review
Here is the coziest, most beguiling bedtime story in many a day. -- Kirkus Reviews, Pointer Review

About the Author
Russell Hoban, author of A Bargain For Frances, also wrote five other books about Frances: A Baby Sister for Frances, Best Friends for Frances, A Birthday for Frances, and Bread and Jam for Frances, all illustrated by Lillian Hoban, and Bedtime for Frances, illustrated by Garth Williams. Mr. Hoban lives in London, England.

Customer Reviews

Crazy talk
This is a great book, and brilliantly illustrated. The others in the series (like Bread and Jam for Frances) did not use the same artist and have an inferior look. The picture of Frances and her Father brushing their fangs before bed is incredibly cute, and my children think the picture of the father half awake in bed is hilarious. The original black and white illustrations are actually better and more scary-looking. Get an older copy if you can find it.
To the more hysterical people in this forum who think their children are irreparably harmed by the spanking reference: I think what you really don't like is that the father threatens a spanking without being portrayed as some horrible monster. Aren't books supposed to be about learning? Just tell your children that back when this book was written (1960) smacking kids on the butt was a fairly common form of discipline. Tell them that you think this is wrong, although some parents today disagree. If your children are still traumatized, then you better home school them, because they are simply too emotionally fragile to go out in the real world.

Bedtime for Frances helps get little ones to bed
Frances was a classic when I was little. Now I read the same stories to my son. Whenever he keeps stalling, not wanting to go to bed I pull out Bedtime For Frances and read it to him. He smiles because so many of Frances' attempts to stay up late are so similar to his own. We don't spank, but he gets the idea that going to bed is serious business. When the story is over I ask him, "Now, what is your job?" and he closes his eyes with a sweet smile on his face. We both feel better and I can turn out the light.

Four Year Old Favorite!
Every night a little four year old girl pulls out this story to be read. The pictures are gorgeous. We have this story in a "book of classic bedtime stories", but bought it separately as well because she loved it so much!