Bedtime is Canceled
Written by Cece Meng
Illustrated by Aurélie Neyret
When a prank note from two elementary aged students finds its way to a news room desk, an entire community is unbalanced and out of control. What would happen if bedtime were canceled? Cece Meng and Aurélie Neyret explore that childhood dream in this hilarious book. What second grade student hasn’t hoped that bedtime could be canceled so that he/she could play a little longer? Maggie and her brother simply try to trick their parents with a note reading, “Bedtime is canceled”, but when their parents do not believe them, their note was discarded, only to be picked up by a night newspaper reporter and then the news channel. This book describes the sequence of unfortunate events that follows, until Maggie delivers a note to the newspaper reporter UN-canceling bedtime.
This book is an hysterical evaluation of how quickly news travels in our society of newsprint, news channels, texting, and instant messaging. This book is written for any second grade student to understand, and would certainly elicit giggles while being read aloud. It would fit perfectly into a unit about media and our information age. Since the newspaper is such a key aspect of bedtime’s cancelation, it would be exciting to see what students come up with as they compile a class newspaper. For a lesson plan on creating a class newspaper, visit http://wdtimes.net/NIE/Let’s%20Write%20Newspaper%20Story.pdf.
The last illustration of Bedtime is Canceled also invites students to write a sequel to the book entitled, Cleaning up Bedrooms is Canceled. Oh, the ideas that this book gives young readers; it is a must-read for any second grade student.
Title: Bedtime is Canceled- Authors: Cece Meng
- Illustrators: Aurélie Neyret
- Publisher: Clarion Books
- Reviewer: Sharon Schulte
- Hardback, 32 pages
- ISBN: 978-0-547-63668-9
- Genre: fiction, bedtime, newspapers