New Children’s Book: Go The F- to Sleep

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.

An apparently real book for sale at Amazon: Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes.

Go the Fuck to Sleep

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 ReviewThe Boston GlobeVibeThe BelieverLos 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 TimesVanity FairEntertainment WeeklyNew York magazine, The Village VoiceSan 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.

FILED UNDER: Parenting, , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Neil Hudelson says:

    My friends announced they were having twins yesterday. I am completely prepared for the baby shower now. Thanks, James!

  2. michael reynolds says:

    I love this. Both as a father and a kid book writer.

  3. nadia says:

    ok…. its official…. I am NEVER HAVING CHILDREN.

  4. Franklin says:

    I’ve certainly said this phrase … on the way to the room, not in front of the kid, though.

  5. Dawn Diamond says:

    No grandchildren yet but will buy the book immediately anyway. More than anything today we need things that make us laugh! Brilliant idea!

  6. joe says:

    disgusting, what a sick generation we live in. may God not curse a child with parent who would buy this book.

  7. Marybeth says:

    Lighten up joe.

  8. Thag Jones says:

    Yeah joe, lighten the f*ck up!

  9. Kathy says:

    Oh, f**k, I put my order in to Amazon before I saw Joe’s comment. 😀

  10. Mich says:

    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!!!!!

  11. Karen says:

    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.

  12. Shawna Somerville says:

    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!

  13. Chuck says:

    Joe, I’m not angry with you. I’m just disappointed.

  14. Joe's Helper says:

    Joe needs to stop being a turd

  15. Mike says:

    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!

  16. Tricia Bertram says:

    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