The Quickest Bedtime Story Ever! - by Louise Fitzgerald (Hardcover)

About the Book

A "quick" bedtime story requires preparation, from warming up voices to tucking in toys and performing fanfares.

Book Synopsis

Get ready for the speediest bedtime story EVER? It's only ten words long!

Welcome to the quickest bedtime story ever! Your little one will be asleep in seconds.

But wait! There are a couple of things you must do first:

Have you warmed up your reading voice?

And plumped the pillows?

What about the teddy bears? Have you organized them yet?

Getting ready for a story is serious business, I'll have you know . . .

This hilarious and engaging bedtime story will help to settle down even the most restless readers.

Review Quotes

Hindley brings a Richard Scarry vibe to Fitzgerald's zany bedtime frolic. From the start, the direct-address narrator breaks the book's titular promise: the "quickest bedtime story EVER" is "only ten words. BUT before we begin, listen up." Listeners join a cast of pajama-clad animals in a series of interactive bedtime-stalling antics. They pledge to go to bed at the end of the book, while grownups promise to use their best reading voices. Everyone warms up (aided by silly, near-page-filling text), stretches (rotating the book to achieve a full vertical extension), tucks in their toys (from biggest to smallest, in colors and patterns, or "even try out [their] own ideas"), practices careful page-turning, and so on. Finally it's time for the story, which sums up this delightful romp: "Once upon a bed, / you laughed, / and played, / and read." Colorfully cluttered illustrations offer myriad details, inviting repeat readings, encouraged by the book's closing words: "(Until tomorrow!)." In the final pages, Hindley's bright, wakeful colors give way to sleepy shades of blue, glowing from decorative string lights, and everyone-well, almost everyone-is sound asleep.--Shelley Isaacson, The Horn Book Magazine

Blame Louise Fitzgerald and Kate Hindley when your kiddos can't go to sleep, because their giggle-inducing, highly interactive picture book, The Quickest Bedtime Story Ever!, is so funny that one read-through as part of a bedtime routine may not suffice.
Five animals dry off after a bubble bath and don pajamas. Readers are quickly reassured, with an abundance of exclamation marks, that "an amazing story you'll love, share, and never forget" follows and--even better!--"it's only ten words!" Of course it isn't that simple, but with the anticipation comes joy. The animals, after earnest promises, "a very serious voice warm-up" (that's not at all serious), warnings to readers to supervise their grown-up, and various ridiculous bedtime preparations, are finally treated to their 10-word tale. While it doesn't prove the expedient story readers were initially promised, sleep still comes... for most of the animals, at least.
Debut author Fitzgerald's theatrical training shows in this fourth wall-breaking text that feels like the warm-up for an improvisational performance. Page turns bring constant delights, and absurdities include physical movement, affirmations, and verbal antics. Illustrator Hindley (The Littlest Yak) depicts the adorable, wide-eyed menagerie vigorously accomplishing typical bedtime preparations with comically varying degrees of readiness. Subtle illustrative details, including a theft of bedding and one critter who sleeps through most of the action, invite quieter and repeat engagement. For daunted caregivers, a QR code provides a free audio recording of the book.
This satirical and delightfully interactive story will likely bring joy to the bedtime routine, even if it makes bedtime a bit later.

--Kit Ballenger, Shelf Awareness

"Blame Louise Fitzgerald and Kate Hindley when your kiddos can't go to sleep, because their giggle-inducing, highly interactive picture book, The Quickest Bedtime Story Ever!, is so funny that one read-through as part of a bedtime routine may not suffice."--Kit Ballenger, youth librarian, Help Your Shelf, Shelf Awareness

About the Author

Louise Fitzgerald works as a freelance acting and performing arts coach, with a focus in devising and improvisation for all ages and abilities. Louise performed in theater globally before training as a teacher in 2008. She is passionate about working with young people and specializes in imaginative play and creative thinking. Louise lives with her husband, son, and daughter in Kent, England.

?Kate Hindley is an award-winning children's book illustrator. She studied Illustration at Falmouth University and went on to work as a surface pattern designer in Northampton, England. Her first book, The Great Snortle Hunt, written by Claire Freedman, was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2012. Since then, Kate's work has won numerous awards. She lives with her husband and son in Worcestershire, England.