New Children’s Book: Go The F- to Sleep
An apparently real book for sale at Amazon: Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes.
Go the Fuck 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 off to dreamland. Honest, profane, and affectionate, Adam Mansbach’s verses and Ricardo Cortés’ illustrations perfectly capture the familiar—and unspoken—tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night, and open up a conversation about parenting in the process. Beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny, Go the Fuck to Sleep is a perfect gift for parents new, old, or 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 fuck to sleep.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 best-selling 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, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. 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 Cortés 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, San Francisco Chronicle, and on CNN and FOX News.
Absolutely hilarious. And quite reasonable at $10.17. With a daughter about to turn two-and-a-half and another on the way, we’ve naturally pre-ordered.
via Roland Paris
UPDATE: Go The Fuck to Sleep Goes Viral.
About James Joyner
My friends announced they were having twins yesterday. I am completely prepared for the baby shower now. Thanks, James!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I love this. Both as a father and a kid book writer.
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ok…. its official…. I am NEVER HAVING CHILDREN.
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I’ve certainly said this phrase … on the way to the room, not in front of the kid, though.
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No grandchildren yet but will buy the book immediately anyway. More than anything today we need things that make us laugh! Brilliant idea!
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disgusting, what a sick generation we live in. may God not curse a child with parent who would buy this book.
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Lighten up joe.
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Yeah joe, lighten the f*ck up!
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Oh, f**k, I put my order in to Amazon before I saw Joe’s comment. :D
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Joe,
If your going to critique, let me be the first to point out….may after a period deserves a capital letter. As far as cursing a child after the ordering the book…Way to late, they are your parents book or no book. Have a drink, relax, enjoy it’s amazingly funny!!!!!
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Joe, you’re a twat – the book is meant for the parents, not the children, you either don’t have children or if you do you are LYING if you say you have never thought it to yourself! I have a 2 and a half year old I love to bits but this book describes our nightly bedtime to a tee. You either laugh about it or lose the plot, I know which one I’d rather.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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HAHAH! This is hilarious. As the book made it’s way via email through out the office, I could hear the snickers from parents and singles alike. I myself nearly spit out my coffee as I read through the verses! I’ve been wanting to see a book like this for a LONG time. Thanks for the laugh!
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Joe, I’m not angry with you. I’m just disappointed.
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Joe needs to stop being a turd
Hot debate. What do you think?
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THIS IS AWESOME! It is what we as parents have always thought (come on, you know you have ….) and can never say. I love it!!!! Buying it now!
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I am 60 years old but I still remember, This is the funniest book ever and so puts the sleep deprivation into perspective.
love it
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