In this bedtime tour of a spooky alternate universe, Quinn (the Not for Children Children’s Books series) and Spires (the Binky the Space Cat series) show that monster and fiend parents face the same challenges getting their offspring to sleep as their human counterparts. As dawn threatens to break across the sky, a tired-eyed ghost parent tries to coax its baby, cuddled against a tombstone, to get some shut-eye (“I’ll always love you, to the grave./ But frankly, dear, it’s sleep I crave.”), while a lagoon-dweller holds a swaddled, beatific baby and sings a bubbly lullaby (“blupblupblooop”). Despite their shared need for sleep, the grown-up mummy, zombies, and vampire, among others, understand that baby ghouls have bedtime fears (in their case, the “horrid things” are bunnies, unicorns, and fluffy kittens), just as they believe that having a “tiny terror” to love is beyond compare. “So good night, moon. Farewell, night./ Guard me and mine throughout the light.” Ages 2–5. Author’s agent: Bernadette Baker-Baughman, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. Illustrator’s agent: Claire Easton, Painted Words.
- Best of Publishers Weekly
With the sun rising, these little ones will do anything to stay up just one more minute. Daddy Vampire is forced to fetch them one more snack, Mommy Mummy is cajoled to give one more cuddle, and so on. But these parents are tired, frustrated, and ready for bed. Quinn’s clever rhymes (“I’ll always love you, to the grave. / But frankly, dear, it’s sleep I crave”) are paired with dark-toned illustrations of cute little monsters looking mostly sleepy. It all ends up comfortably well, with all the little creatures snoozing. Good for reading to a classroom or one-on-one, this delightfully ghoulish tale shows that even monster parents have it tough when putting little creatures to bed. Grades K-2.
- – Booklist Reviews
A bedtime book for all the nocturnal ghouls, ghosts, and goblins.
Structured identically to the many twee books about bedtime for human children, this is designed to do the same job: get little ones to sleep. Just as human children want one more cuddle, snack, and book, so too do these monsters’ offspring. Godzilla’s diapered child wants to keep stomping block cities, and it’s a struggle to get the bigfoot child’s toes scrubbed, face brushed, and pajamas on. Then there are those pesky fears that parents need to banish (imagined terrors include a unicorn and a cute kitten). The beauty of Quinn’s text, though (the vampire dad’s request for one more bite and a couple of bobbled rhymes excepted), is that this will work on human children as well. Indeed, some of the typical twee has made it to these pages, demonstrating that monster caregivers are just as sentimental as human ones: “A little wonder, yes, that’s true. / A miracle, uniquely you.” Spires’ illustrations mix the tender with the slightly macabre (the zombie child’s stuffed animal is missing its lower half), and the palette is dark and subdued to match the time before the dawn.
Two messages come through loud and clear: caregivers’ love for their children and, in the words of the ghost parent: “I’ll always love you, to the grave. / But frankly, dear, it’s sleep I crave.” Truer words were never spoken.
- – Kirkus Review
It’s no secret that kids will try anything to put off going to bed each night — and the struggle is just as real for monster parents. At least, that’s the premise behind the charming and spookily perfect bedtime book, Go to Sleep, Little Creep by David Quinn & illustrated by Ashley Spires. The book follows an assortment of ghouls and monsters as they get ready for bed — vampires and werewolves, ghosts and sea creatures — all of them find excuses to put off going to sleep.
They are struggles any parent will relate to: one more cuddle, a drink of water, another story, etc. Anyone paying close attention will see the universal feelings of so many exhausted parents reflected in the illustrations. (Honestly, the zombie parents look eerily similar to just regular parents!)
This line, in particular, I think will strike a nerve:
I’ll always love you, to the grave.
But frankly, dear, it’s sleep I crave.
But as much as parents will get a kick out of this book — so, too, will their kids. The illustrations, though depicting Halloween-worthy creatures, are charming and sweet. And the sentiments are relatable enough for kids to get a giggle out of comparing the situations to their own little lives.
This adorably spooky picture book is a delight to read out loud, and definitely sets the perfect tone for bedtime reading.
- Novel Novice Junior
Go to Sleep, Little Creep is a wonderful bedtime story for kids and parents that like the supernatural. Parents who love the classic horror films will definitely find it interesting with all the Easter eggs within its pages.
Go to Sleep, Little Creep narrates through its illustrations the struggles even monster parents go through to put their little ones to bed. We see parents hurrying to their children with toys or chasing after them, giving them one last snack before bed or trying to put on pajamas. But the little ones are too full of energy to go to bed.
I loved this picture book, especially the details found within the different monster parent/child scenarios. I am sure parents will have more fun than the kids. For example, when Godzilla chases baby Godzilla you can see in the background some drawings and toys related to its movies. The Frankenstein family has the best detail of them all! And the lagoon’s monster has a hidden surprise within the sea’s depth.
The rhymes by David Quinn and illustrations by Ashley Spires are great and go hand-in-hand with what they are trying to portray. The little kid monsters are adorable and you can see their resemblance to their parents. A wonderful read indeed, so if you like monsters and their little creeps this is the book for you. You will learn that human parents aren’t the only ones that struggle to put their kids to bed.
- Open Book Society
Briarcliff Manor’s A Maze in Pottery studio artists have rendered the creepy cute illustrations of Ashley Spires as a dinner plate fit to haunt your Halloween Feast
Two parties are for young kids accompanied by adults – these projects are simpler than the one designed for older kids and incorporate the child’s handprint
This party is for older kids who can work independently on a more complex project
