Ten in a Bed

by Allan Ahlberg, André Amstutz (Illustrator)

Every night a new fairy tale character shows up in Dinah Price's bedroom and every night, instead of becoming exasperated, Dinah swiftly deals with the visitors by turning their tales into twists that send them running

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Middle Grade, Fractured Fairy Tales

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 1989

About the author

Allan Ahlberg was one of the UK's most acclaimed and successful authors of children's books - including the best-selling Jolly Postman series. Born in Croydon in 1938, he was educated at Sunderland Technical College. Although he dreamed of becoming a writer since the age of twelve, his route to that goal was somewhat circuitous. Other jobs along the way included postman (not an especially jolly one, he recalls), gravedigger, plumber, and teacher.

Ahlberg wrote his first book when he was thirty-seven, after a decade of teaching - a profession that he maintains is "much harder" than being a writer. He says that if he hadn't become a writer, he would have loved to be a soccer player. He was married for many years to fellow children's author Janet Ahlberg, with whom he often worked. Their daughter, Jessica Ahlberg, is also a children's author.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very charming and VERY British and I am not sure I fully understand the point, but I liked it anyway.

[ستایش · Rating 4 out of 5]

یادش بخیر جزو اولین کتاب هایی بود که خوندم...
موضع جالبی هم داشت، قشنگ بود

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

best childrens book ever!!!

Dinah Price comes home from school night after night to fine characters in classis fairy tales all tucked away in her bed. they will not leave until she tells them a story and if that doesn't work her uncle (who is a bus driver, not a hunter) "will come upstairs and shoot them with his rifle!," says Dinah. you meet esmeralda a witch and a big bad woolf who's a softie! please read this to your kids it changed my world!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It's a great book to read to children and for any age too.
It has a mixture of other children's stories in it but it is different than them.

[Andy Verschoyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

What fun! For parent and child. I do not know when authors started writing stories about stories in this way - knowing and referential, requiring prior knowledge of fairy tales and bringing the characters into the readers' world, sharing our reality and insisting on the suspension of our disbelief - but ( original or not ) Ahlberg makes it work, with the help of Amstutz's warmly humorous and accessible drawings.

Each of the eight stories is carefully framed. After a variety of authentic, down-to-earth descriptions of what might have happened in any child's day, the action begins with: "Dinah Price kissed her mum and dad goodnight,.....[ each story has a little tweak]..., climbed the stairs, went into her room - and found...[three bears/a wicked witch/a cat/a giant(!) ] ....in her bed". Each one ends with ..."she closed her eyes...and slept till morning".

The writing is deceptively simple, giving a safe cue to any child's creative imagination. It's the "what happens next?" bit which gets us on the hook - "what if we found three bears in our bed!" - because thats where Ahlberg is taking us. There is no talking down from author to reader - the story is told matter-of-factly without frills, which are unnecessary because the situation/the story is so rich with options that the proliferation of adjectives and adverbs we see in so many children's books, to add colour to anaemic plot, is unnecessary.

Ahlberg's concise but relaxed style makes these events real by not seeming to try - even if some of us do realise that we have been led into the world of Dinah's imagination.

[Miss Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the cutest childrens book I've ever read. I might be prejudiced, because we used to listen to this on audiobook on long car rides when I was a kid. This is a wonderful reimagination of fairytales. It's about a girl called Dinah Price who one day goes to her bed and finds three bears in it. Like, the three bears from Goldilocks. And they'll only get out of her bed and leave if she tells them a story. And the fact that she tells good stories gets around and other fairytale characters appear as well... Read it, it's great. But keep in mind, this is a childrens book so the language won't be too challenging.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fun to read because of how the folktales were incorporated. I would give this book to my students to read so that they could imagine the classic folktales in a creative way.

[Amy Hoang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a fantastic read. Found from one of my own personal collection. Dinah Price is a little girl who lives with her mum, dad and brother. Every night she has special visitors. Each chapter begins with a well known character from a fairy tale which come and visit her in her own bed. In an attempt to get them out of her bed, she is forced to tell them stories based on their own characters! For example, The Three Bears and Sleeping Beauty. The stories are all parodies of existing fairy tales.

There is a good structure, with each chapter that begins at the start of the day and ends when night comes. It is an enjoyable read, featuring familiar characters and takes the reader on a journey through many emotions, laughter and sadness. I would use this book for literacy classes.

[Carrie-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over a decade later I can still recite majority of this book from the top of my head. Was one of my favourite books as a child, as the humour was fantastic and I loved the concept of a little girl having to tell bed time stories to fairytale characters to get them to go. Especially liked the witch and the three bears :)

[Jake Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book for children who enjoy and are familiar with well-known fairytales. It never occurred to me when I was younger that the entire sequence of events might be taking place in Dinah's imagination (as her family clearly believes) but now I'm forced to admit that it's a distinct possibility.

[Caitlin Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a childhood favorite, and it was delightful revisiting it—this time as I read it aloud to my son. It’s a charming book that I highly recommend for kids and grownups.

[Reilly Windsor-Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is associated with childish nostalgia for me, filled with bed time stories and well known fairy tale creatures. A great bedtime story for little ones or to re-live you childhood while in Isolation.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read most of this to my nephew and niece over two nights during a family trip to Williamsburg; previously read (many years ago, now) as a bedtime story to teens during a week-long mission trip in WV. A silly, cozy read…

[Zahirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nice adventure into various fairytales, and all from the comfort of dinah's room

[Sarah]

An interesting book as a parody on familiar fairy-stories, told with a twist on many of the original endings. I enjoyed the humour and the repetition as the stories progressed.
Professional comment:

Useful book for encouraging newly independent readers to explore a series of short stories with familiar context and themes.

If children aren't familiar with these fairy stories, then could be useful book to fill in their background knowledge in an older child's setting.

[Kelly Powell]

This book is interesting for the fact that different fairytale characters visit Dinah Price's bedroom at night. I think many students would enjoy this book but it wasn’t one of my favorites. I feel that fairytales are over exploited and would have loved for the author to take more liberty in changing some more things throughout the story.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

First long story we've read at bedtime over several nights. Measure of enjoyment - after 8 chapters over 8 successive nights Ellen asked to have the whole thing all over again. Now up to chapter 4 the second time around.

[Katie Grainger · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite children's book of all time this is just fab!

[Priya Appleby · Rating 5 out of 5]

We got this book on a cereal box and I just loved it! It was great for bed time stories for me and I read it over and over again!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aw so i decided to pick this up as a little re-read from my childhood, used to read it every night before going to sleep when i was 5. Ah. Nostalgia.

[Kellie Shadle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this with great grandma

[Brent Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a fairytale book. Different characters visit Dinah Price's bedroom at night. I am not a big fan of fairytales, but some children will enjoy this book.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun way to familiarize my kids with common English fairy tales. Great recommendation from Grammy!

[el]

i got this in 2003 and must have read it many, many times & i still love!!!

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 4 out of 5]

A variety of fairy tale characters show up in Dinah's bed each night.

[Sami · Rating 2 out of 5]

i would give it a 2 1/2 but i can't