What do you think?
Rate this book
Bedtime Is Canceled
The note read: Bedtime is canceled. Maggie thought of it. Her brother wrote it. A journalist read it. This was big news. He reported it. Before they knew it, the whole city discovered that bedtime had officially been canceled, so no one went to sleep!
Cece Meng, author of I WILL NOT READ THIS BOOK and TOUGH CHICKS, delivers once again with a pitch perfect cautionary tale, a wry parody of our information-glutted age, and heart-warming brother & sister adventure. Illustrated by French artist, Aurélie Neyret, who makes her U.S. debut with wit and whimsy.
.
Cece Meng, author of I WILL NOT READ THIS BOOK and TOUGH CHICKS, delivers once again with a pitch perfect cautionary tale, a wry parody of our information-glutted age, and heart-warming brother & sister adventure. Illustrated by French artist, Aurélie Neyret, who makes her U.S. debut with wit and whimsy.
.
29 pages, Hardcover
First published November 6, 2012
5 people are currently reading
852 people want to read
About the author
Cece Meng
11 books44 followersI was born in Walnut Creek, California, the middle child of five kids. Don't believe everything you hear about the forgotten middle child. We have our methods for getting noticed. My siblings excelled at everything academic. I excelled at daydreaming. My parents were not amused.
My experiences volunteering at a homeless shelter while in college helped me understand the importance of communication and the role it plays in how we see and understand each other as a society. It also showed me how grownups are instrumental in giving kids hope, health, and inspiration to succeed.
My thoughts on writing? For me, it's about the music and the rhythms found in words. The joys of my childhood - music and poetry - wrapped up in the words of today. I love to honor the impulses of our spirited children. I tell my kids I have the best job in the world. I'm a professional daydreamer.
My experiences volunteering at a homeless shelter while in college helped me understand the importance of communication and the role it plays in how we see and understand each other as a society. It also showed me how grownups are instrumental in giving kids hope, health, and inspiration to succeed.
My thoughts on writing? For me, it's about the music and the rhythms found in words. The joys of my childhood - music and poetry - wrapped up in the words of today. I love to honor the impulses of our spirited children. I tell my kids I have the best job in the world. I'm a professional daydreamer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
November 20, 2012
I was just confused reading this book — nothing seemed to connect. One of those books when you reach the end you just shrug and say eh.
April 20, 2026
once upon a time, freefall did distance learning because of coronavirus.
freefall was also very young. (BUT SHE IS NOW OVER THE LEGAL AGE REQUIRED TO BE ON GOODREADS SO NO ONE TRY TO BAN HER) she was the star of the week in her class and was allowed to read a PICTURE book to the class.
she picked this one.
she laughed unnecessarily hard at the teacher forgetting what 1 + 1 was equivalent to.
she thought this story was a big exaggerated joke because sleeping is necessary to sustain life, right alongside food, water, air, and yaoi. (anyone who doesn't like yaoi is brain-dead, much like anyone who doesn't sleep.)
she also realizes now at the ripe old age of teenagerness that the lack of sleep and canceled bedtimes already exists in society, just less official. in order to pay taxes (shudders) and make ends meet them poor middle-to-lower-class peasants (used purely as a joke, considering she belongs in middle-class. maybe we should just overturn the class system and force people to sleep from 11-7) have to work which means giving up sleep.
to think that she had believed that this book was a piece of satire. alas.
freefall was also very young. (BUT SHE IS NOW OVER THE LEGAL AGE REQUIRED TO BE ON GOODREADS SO NO ONE TRY TO BAN HER) she was the star of the week in her class and was allowed to read a PICTURE book to the class.
she picked this one.
she laughed unnecessarily hard at the teacher forgetting what 1 + 1 was equivalent to.
she thought this story was a big exaggerated joke because sleeping is necessary to sustain life, right alongside food, water, air, and yaoi. (anyone who doesn't like yaoi is brain-dead, much like anyone who doesn't sleep.)
she also realizes now at the ripe old age of teenagerness that the lack of sleep and canceled bedtimes already exists in society, just less official. in order to pay taxes (shudders) and make ends meet them poor middle-to-lower-class peasants (used purely as a joke, considering she belongs in middle-class. maybe we should just overturn the class system and force people to sleep from 11-7) have to work which means giving up sleep.
to think that she had believed that this book was a piece of satire. alas.
December 3, 2012
A brother and sister team tries to fool their parents by writing a note that states: Bedtime is canceled! Mom and Dad don’t buy into so the kids throw the note in the trash, but the wind picks it up and carries it across town to the desk of a newspaper reporter. The reporter makes the note headline news and people all over the world forego bedtime with bad results. The next day adults are too tired to perform tasks correctly and by dinner people are cuddling up in their dinner plates. The brother and sister who canceled bedtime write another note reinstating bedtime and the world gets back to a normal nightly routine, all except for two little kids stirring up more trouble with a new note.
A funny, bedtime read aloud with digital illustrations.
A funny, bedtime read aloud with digital illustrations.
December 4, 2012
Bedtime is cancelled! The news is out. A classic 'wishful thinking' children's book with a lesson to be learned. This book incorporated lots of examples of modern technology such as i phones, i pads, laptops and other examples of communication that are now part of a child's landscape.A great bedtime read with reasons behind why there is a bedtime and what would happen if we didn't have on.
November 6, 2012
This book is charming and hilarious! Meng's quirky books always hit just the right note for me and my kids.
November 7, 2021
Headlines can be misleading
November 14, 2012
The story is a fun exploration of a what-if? idea. I kept checking the front matter because these illustrations have the feel of having been a cartoon or an animation...a little like the 2D Rankin-Bass animations from my childhood. I wonder if an elementary school classroom would want to read this and discuss the media and the reliability of the transmission of information? One thing I did appreciate was the wide range of media portrayed in the text and illustrations--from handwritten-with-crayon notices to print newspapers to tincan phones to TV news to texting w/phones and reading on tablets. (The TVs and computer monitors are flatscreens, too.)
February 4, 2016
The pictures looked like I was watching a cartoon.
The story was cute enough for a kid to think it was plausible to cancel bedtime. Only strike I have against it was they mentioned both texting and emailing. Takes away the possibility of "classicness" when technology will probably be outdated in 10 years.
The story was cute enough for a kid to think it was plausible to cancel bedtime. Only strike I have against it was they mentioned both texting and emailing. Takes away the possibility of "classicness" when technology will probably be outdated in 10 years.
August 16, 2013
This is an entertaining story about the way news spreads. The narrative is fun to read aloud and the illustrations are colorful. It made me tired just to think about missing an entire night's sleep, but our girls thought it was hilarious. We enjoyed reading this book together.
November 2, 2015
This book could be used to teach kids about how information travels or the power of a rumor, but I imagine there are other books that could do a better job of it. The writing didn't flow very well and some of the illustrations, while funny, didn't make much sense.
Want to Read
April 9, 2012I love the idea of this book.
November 6, 2012
I think this book is based on some conversation the author had with someone and then thought it was a good plot! Just my thoughts really because this story doesn't make sense!
November 1, 2017
I didn't like this one. Especially I did not like the face illustrations and the text do not flow. Good premise for a picture book, bedtime is canceled but not this title.
August 31, 2017
I also stopped at my local library and grabbed a few books to read, and lo and behold, I found a book called Bedtime Is Canceled. Now anyone who has ever been a child can remember the efforts made to extend bedtime as far off as possible. And anyone who has ever been a child can probably remember their parents telling them they were not going to stay up all night.
It never kept us from trying though. And the incredibly funny thing about this story is how bedtime mistakenly did get canceled and the ensuing craziness the cancellation brought forth. This book had me laughing with every page turn and is definitely a book I recommend for kids from about five to ten.
It never kept us from trying though. And the incredibly funny thing about this story is how bedtime mistakenly did get canceled and the ensuing craziness the cancellation brought forth. This book had me laughing with every page turn and is definitely a book I recommend for kids from about five to ten.
August 25, 2021
A brother and sister write a note telling their parents that bedtime is cancelled. The note is thrown in the trash where it flies away to land on the desk of a journalist. The paper prints the story front page, leading everyone in town to believe that bedtime really is cancelled. The school principal sent notes home to parents, emails were sent with the announcement. And everyone believed it because they saw the words with their own eyes. This leads to exhausted parents and children. Eventually the two siblings send a note to the journalist that bedtime is NOT cancelled and everything goes back to normal.
A good story to talk about misinformation.
A good story to talk about misinformation.
April 16, 2019
"Bedtime is Canceled" is the paradoxical story of a brother-sister duo who wrote a note of how they thought bedtime should be canceled. In short, the note accidentally ended up on a reporter's desk and was thereby published in the newspaper and on TV. The beginning of the story felt reminiscent of Jane and Michael Banks's list of good qualities for a nanny that ended up in Mary Poppins's possession. Of course, "Bedtime is Canceled" is a completely different story, but it is a fun one to read to early grade-schoolers.
June 30, 2017
A brother and sister conspire to get out of bedtime by writing a note saying it was cancelled. Their parents are not persuaded by their efforts, but their note flies out of the window and onto the desk of a gullible news reporter. Thus it goes out across the media that bedtime is cancelled and hijinx ensue.
Illustrations are cute.
Illustrations are cute.
May 18, 2020
This story was really cute and the story was fun but...
My only complaint was that they mentioned the children emailing and texting each other. Technology will definitely date this children's book.
My only complaint was that they mentioned the children emailing and texting each other. Technology will definitely date this children's book.
April 21, 2021
Hello Bedtime, I also got cancelled. I have several questions. How do you get uncancelled? What if you got cancelled for having the right opinion? Do you believe that Shrek the Storybook is a 1 star (hint: it is)?
August 17, 2022
"Bedtime is canceled." Maggie and her brother gave the note to their parents. They didn't believe it. But somehow it ended up on the desk of the newspaper reporter. The chain of events that follows makes for a hilarious view of what happens when no one goes to bed at night.
October 24, 2023
This book is a beautifully illustrated cartoon with a moral for kids who hate bedtime and plenty of humor, vocabulary-building, and entertainment suitable for teaching youngsters to read. As a retired reading teacher, I strongly recommend this book.
October 17, 2024
This book was a funny book about children telling the whole town that bedtime is cancelled! The whole town didn’t sleep so everyone did a bunch of silly things they wouldn’t normally do because they were tired.
August 8, 2017
A bit long for storytime purposes, but something kids would enjoy.
November 16, 2017
Loved the illustrations and the story is cute.
April 15, 2018
Cute idea to show how hard life would be without bedtime. Might be good for kids rebelling against bedtime. But it felt too fast - they could have fleshed it out more.
May 5, 2018
My kiddo is 4 and wants to effect change in the world and loved the idea that she could make such a difference. It was very cute.
May 25, 2018
A funny story in which two siblings cause quite a stir when they get bedtime cancelled. Great illustrations.
June 13, 2018
3.5- love the style of illustrating, good book to read to show kids that not everything in print is true. Could lead to a discussion about how to tell if information/a source is reliable or not.
October 16, 2018
Loved. Will be getting for a niece or two come Christmas.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews