Go the F**k to Sleep

Average based on 10 comments. Synopses & Reviews Customer Comments (10) ISBN13: 9781617750250 ISBN10: 1617750255 Condition: Standard Dustjacket: Standard All Product Details Only 1 left in stock at $10.50!

Awards

2011 Powell's Staff Top 5s

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Staff Pick

Riotous and perfectly apt, Go the F**k to Sleep is destined to become the rallying cry for parents across the nation. We nod. We guffaw. We stream tears of glee as we pump fists in the air, whisper-shouting, "Yes — been there!" This book speaks the hilarious, straight-up truth and is an absolute must-have for any new, expecting, or current parent.
Recommended by Heidi Mager, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don't always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. Profane, affectionate, and radically honest, California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach's verses perfectly capture the familiar — and unspoken — tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, they open up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations, and laugh at their absurdity.

With illustrations by Ricardo Cortes, Go the F**k to Sleep is beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny — a book for parents new, old, and expectant.

Here is a sample verse:

The cats nestle close to their kittens now.
The lambs have laid down with the sheep.
You're cozy and warm in your bed, my dear
Please go the f**k to sleep.

You probably should not read it to your children.

Review:

"This is the most honest children's book ever written. And it's f*cking hilarious." A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

Review:

"Total genius." Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn

Review:

"A children's book for grown-ups! I really did laugh out loud — hilarious!" David Byrne, musician, father of one

Review:

"I wish this book had been around during my daughter's overly protracted sleep rituals! Finally, someone tells it like it really is. This is no-guilt funny and a godsend!" Cristina Garcia, author of The Lady Matador's Hotel, mother of one

Review:

"Go the F**k to Sleep is the secret anthem of tired parents everywhere. Adam Mansbach's homage to the tropes of bedtime stories is pitch perfect, and Ricardo Cortes's stunning illustrations will keep grown-ups and kids alike returning to these pages again and again!" Bliss Boyard, author of One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life

Synopsis:

A bedtime book for parents who live in the real world.

Synopsis:

A gift book for parents that will have them laughing even as they cry.

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About the Author

Adam Mansbach's daughter, Vivien, is two and a half. His novels include The End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and the bestselling Angry Black White Boy, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2005. His fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, Vibe, the Believer, the Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. Mansbach's forthcoming projects include a graphic novel, Nature of the Beast, and an as-yet untitled novel co-written with the director Robert Rodriguez. He is the 2010-2011 New Voices Professor of Fiction at Rutgers University. This is his first children's book. You probably should not read it to actual children, and if you do, he cannot be held legally responsible.

Ricardo Cortes has illustrated books about electricity, the Jamaican bobsled team, and Chinese food. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, New York magazine, the Village Voice, the San Francisco Chronicle, and on CNN and FOX News. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 10 comments:

windwright, March 17, 2013 (view all comments by windwright)
*Alert* this may be a controversial book! Don't allow it to fall into the wrong hands!! In fact, the author seemed to know that there would be controversy, there are two versions of this book. If you can't abide the F-bomb used this book, let alone a book that comes across as a children's book, check out "Seriously, Just Go to Sleep."

I adore this book. I am at the point in my life that I'm hoping for grandchildren (no rush kidlings), however I can still remember those nights where the feeling was deep love yoked with ultimate frustration with this bundle that only mostly cares about itself. While I didn't use the Worse Word Know to the American Language, the sentiment was surely there! I adore this book so much I am sharing it with my adult friends, even those without children of there own. Everyone has there takeaways! I also so appreciate that this generation is the generation that will disarm the dreaded Word that shouldn't be Heard. Oh, fudge, now what will we use?

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BlueMoonBaby, April 20, 2012 (view all comments by BlueMoonBaby)
That "Home School Book Review" person is a wet blanket -- this book is fantastic! Of course Powell's shouldn't ban books that have profanity in them. No bookstore or library should ban books. Yes, comments & reviews should remain profanity-free because it helps create a more civilized discourse when no one else (editors, publishers, etc) is previewing online content before it is published.

Don't be silly; read the book. It's great. I buy it for everyone in my life!

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the bookish mama, December 20, 2011 (view all comments by the bookish mama)
My husband and I are new parents of a 10-month old who STILL does not sleep through the night. (We're working on it.) Out of everything, I think the single most-mystifying thing about having your own baby is sleep. Everyone warns you about it when you become a parent, but you are never really fully prepared for the first couple of months of parenthood when your world is so much fuller because of the new baby in your life, but also so insanely overwhelming because you are so sleep-deprived. I chose to request and review this book because I thought it'd give me a good laugh about those crazy nights we've had where our baby girl would NOT sleep and I wholehearted started believing that she (and I) would never go back to sleep EVER AGAIN.

The story reads a lot like a bedtime story because of the illustrations and poetic verses, but please do not confuse it with an actual bedtime story that you can read with your little ones. However, it would make a great gift to share with parents - especially new ones.

I think the writing could have been a little sharper. Maybe because I've read so many Dr. Seuss books lately, but I was expecting a little more of a rhythmic bounce to the story a la Seuss-ical fashion.

I personally don't use curse words in my life and don't really care to hear it used when I'm around, so I didn't care much for the profanity in the book. It was funny the first couple times around. After the first few pages, it got a little old for me. And it made me a little uncomfortable that this parent was so free with them around his kid or when thinking about his kid. You might think that makes me a prude and old-fashioned and I know the author was using it more for emphasis than any other thing, but in my opinion, I think the book would have been just as enjoyable and have the same effect without all of the curse words on every single page.

Overall:
That being said, I did really enjoy the book. I thought it greatly captured the frustration and every day (and night!) reality that parents face when it comes to the issue of sleep (or lack thereof) with babies and young ones. It was real, raw and honest and as a new parent, wishing of the day when my daughter will sleep through the night every night, it was very entertaining to read.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9781617750250

Author:

Mansbach, Adam

Publisher:

Akashic Books

Author:

Cortes, Ricardo

Edition Description:

NONE

Publication Date:

20110614

Binding:

Hardback

Pages:

32

Dimensions:

6.5 x 8.25 in