What to Expect at Bedtime

Every child is bound to fight the inevitable--bedtime--once or twice (or perhaps a few thousand times...) in her or his life: It's not fair, Mommy and Daddy get to stay up later. What if I'm not sleepy? Why does it have to be dark in the bedroom? There are all sorts of reasons not to go to bed; what about all the reasons for going to bed? Well, here's Angus, the beloved narrator of Heidi Murkoff and Laura Rader's other wonderful titles in the What to Expect Kids series, including What to Expect When Mommy's Having a Baby and What to Expect When You Go to the Doctor. Angus is a friendly, sympathetic dog who provides answers to questions about growing up. Depicted in playful illustrations by Rader, he gently guides kids through the answers to such questions as "Why do I have to go to bed?" "What happens when I'm sleeping?" "What if I wake up during the night?" As Murkoff says in her "Word to Parents," knowing why sleep is so important "may not make bedtime your child's favorite time of the day, but it may help him or her understand why it's an essential part of the day." And of course there's nothing better than a bedtime story to ease that transition... (Ages 2 to 5) --Emilie Coulter