Sunday 19 June 2011

Go the Fuck to Sleep bedtime book is hit with parents | Books | guardian.co.uk

Foul-mouthed bedtime book is hit with parents

Pastiche children's book tops Amazon's bestseller chart a month ahead of publication

Go the Fuck to Sleep
Book at bedamn-time ... Go the Fuck to Sleep's cover. Image: © 2011 Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortés

A tongue-in-cheek bedtime book for parents which exhorts children to "go the fuck to sleep" has soared to the top of Amazon's bestseller chart a month before publication.

Written by novelist Adam Mansbach after his own daughter Vivien failed to nod off one night, the book, Go the Fuck to Sleep, combines cutesy rhymes with expletive-ridden pleas. Published by small US press Akashic Books, it was originally due out in October. But after a pirated PDF went viral, striking a chord with exhausted parents and catapulting the 32-page book to the top of Amazon.com's bestseller chart – ahead of memoirs by Tina Fey and Steven Tyler – it has now been pulled forward to June.

"The eagles who soar through the sky are at rest / And the creatures who crawl, run and creep. / I know you're not thirsty. That's bullshit. Stop lying. / Lie the fuck down, my darling, and sleep," writes Mansbach in the book, illustrated by Ricardo Cortes. "The cubs and the lions are snoring,/ Wrapped in a big snuggly heap. / How come you can do all this other great shit / But you can't lie the fuck down and sleep?"

Film rights have now been optioned by Fox 2000, and Canongate has snapped up UK rights in the title. It's "definitely not a book to read to your child", said the publisher, but "it will resonate with anyone who has ever spent 20 minutes, 40 minutes, four hours reading 'just one more bedtime story'."

"For me and many parents the Gina Ford sleep routine never quite worked," said Canongate editor Francis Bickmore, a father of two. "Bedtimes are precious but occasionally precarious times and I wish someone had given me this hilarious book sooner. It's an essential gift for any parent you know who lives in the real world."

Vivien is now three, and Mansbach says that she is sleeping better. "Initially the audience was me and my wife," he told the Associated Press. "It captures the frustration of being in a room with a kid and feeling like you may actually never leave that room again, that you may spend the rest of your life in that dark room, trying to get your kid to go to sleep."

  • More on this story

  • Go the Fuck to Sleep

    Blog: parents' bedtime story

    A potty-mouthed picture book has become a hit before it's even published – just don't show it to the children

Comments in chronological order (Total 76 comments)

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  • R042

    17 May 2011 4:03PM

    It might not be "big or clever" but it is actually funny and if anything it's a sign you're a better person if you can laugh at it than sneer at it.

  • expansionlink

    17 May 2011 4:20PM

    Makes me wonder just how bad things are if this kind of book gets past a publisher! As for film rights; Who do they think is going to watch it?

  • mutante

    17 May 2011 4:26PM

    Good for the author. It must be nice to have an unexpected hit. A paper copy might make a nice gift for struggling parents. However...

    Film rights have now been optioned by Fox 2000

    I honestly cannot work out why anyone would want to make - or watch - a film adapted from a novelty sweary short story like this (judging by what's in the above article; I haven't read the book). Still, if they can make a romcom out of What To Expect When You're Expecting...

  • speelingmistake

    17 May 2011 4:57PM

    ha! funny! good gift for parents if you want to tell them 'i feel your pain' but i do wonder what possible film could be spun out of this?

  • edyo86

    17 May 2011 5:47PM

    I really don't understand why some people are so easily offended. It says pretty clearly in the article that neither publisher nor author is suggesting reading the book to a child; it's just a funny gift for tired parents. Seriously folks, lighten up!

  • Davidatpdoink

    17 May 2011 5:51PM

    While I prefer the optimistic side of storytelling for parents to engage with their kids, this is not what this book is for - it's for adults. The dialogue brings into perspective that parenting is a shared experience with lots of work and fun.  Amazing to see the bedtime story capture headlines.

  • BookEditor

    17 May 2011 9:20PM

    Cool too that this idea grew out of a facebook status update. Maybe more writers should vet ideas on social media sites before submitting to publishers.

  • smpugh

    17 May 2011 9:21PM

    Yes, we get that it's for adults. But believe it or not, some adults don't like to see or hear that word.

  • daddyorchips

    17 May 2011 9:36PM

    Love it.

    The duckies and doggies are laughing/What a lot of fuss about nowt/No bugger is saying it's clever or big/Can't you all just chill the fuck out?

  • Mikes005

    17 May 2011 11:56PM

    Trust me, it's f*cking funny.

    Seconded. Got this in the email yesterday from a friend who knows our woe with our 2 year and 7 month old, but I didn't know it was an actual book. I think a purchase will be on its way from me.

  • zentao007

    17 May 2011 11:59PM

    This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.

  • ousia

    18 May 2011 4:05AM

    Assinine, dull and repetitive: of course it's going to be a big hit.

    Smart, clever, displays a love of language: of course it's going to be roundly ignored.

  • Fulton

    18 May 2011 4:36AM

    thought it was hilarious
    makes clear the universal nature of those conversations

  • Dylanwolf

    18 May 2011 6:46AM

    @smpugh

    Yes, we get that it's for adults. But believe it or not, some adults don't like to see or hear that word.

    I agree fully with you, my friend. Are all the adults in our society now immature enough to find anything with the f-, c-, s- word in it hilarious? For pity's sake, grow up.

    Personally these words are not the small change of my social life and I'm not cowed by the boorish posters above who revel in anything crude and vulgar.

    I'm not offended; I'm not shocked. I'm just bored and depressed by how debased and ignoble popular culture has become.

  • Mikes005

    18 May 2011 6:52AM

    This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.

  • AndyLucia

    18 May 2011 9:04AM

    @dylanwolf

    "Are all the adults in our society now immature enough to find anything with the f-, c-, s- word in it hilarious? For pity's sake, grow up"

    Is it lonely up on that ivory tower? It's obviously chilled!!

    Personally I think this IS funny, and know several parents of small children who will think the same; put me down for several copies please!

  • Dylanwolf

    18 May 2011 9:28AM

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  • MaxRenn

    18 May 2011 9:55AM

    Then don't read it!

    You know there's swearing in Chaucer yeah?

    Derk was the night as pich, or as the cole, And at the window out she putte hir hole And Absolon, him fil no bet ne wers, But with his mouth he kiste hir naked ers Ful savourly, er he was war of this

    OMG he said "ers"

  • Dimple

    18 May 2011 10:03AM

    The illustrations look amazing.....good enough reason to buy the book me thinks

  • Lostcontroller

    18 May 2011 10:54AM

    This just in. Having small children can be a tiring experience. It's also massively dull having to listen to people bang on about it all day too. Suck it up.

  • sturubbish

    18 May 2011 12:29PM

    Perhaps it's just me, but it wasn't the swearing in particular that made me laugh, and I don't like the assumption that I'm just chuckling at a rude word.

    Having said that, now I've read a couple of small extracts, I doubt I'll need to read any more of it, so I won't.

    And, for the record, I swear like a bastard. Must mean I'm an immature potty-mouthed idiot, I guess.

  • inanimatt

    18 May 2011 12:56PM

    Swearing is language too, as colourful and expressive when used well as any other language. It's certainly not the exclusive property of the childish or thick. The beauty of language is diminished through censorship, not by using it in its full glory.

    So you think the book is childish, puerile and pointless? So what? There are other books. The addition of this book to the sum of human endeavour (however meagre) doesn't result in the loss of a better one.

    Decrying the state of popular culture and the spoiling of language isn't mature, wise, or intelligent. It's the bleating of the pretentious. Grow up and allow yourself to be childish on occasion. It'll make you more of a person, not less.

  • MG62

    18 May 2011 1:09PM

    Festering snot gobblers! There, I've managed to be offensive, puerile and childish without one nasty swear word.

  • MusicianClare

    18 May 2011 1:55PM

    You know there's swearing in Chaucer yeah?

    No there isn't. Chaucer's narratives can be scatological, rude and occasionally downright filthy (and incidentally extremely funny) but you won't find gratuitous swearing.

    And, for the record, I swear like a bastard. Must mean I'm an immature potty-mouthed idiot, I guess.

    That's right.

  • BigbadD

    18 May 2011 3:48PM

    @Dylanwolf

    "Not while the massed forces of potty-speak threaten to drown out the beauty of language. Perhaps you should chill out?"

    So you're extolling the beauty of language by ignoring or prohibiting some the most expressive uses of it?

    I always find it strange when those who don't swear claim it indicates a limitiation of one's vocabularly. Surely, by definition, the opposite is true?

    If you are offended, that's fine. I would suggest you don't purchase the book or engage in discussion that is likely to include the very words you find so objectionable.

    However, if you must look down upon the rest of us who happily appreciate the cunning and not so cunning use of a good "fuck", "shit", "wank" or whatever, please be prepared for the inevitable backlash.

    It's terribly insulting to be patronised by someone without a reasonable argument.

  • oscarwildebeest

    18 May 2011 5:15PM

    Yes, it's funny how those who complain about the despoiling of the 'beauty' of language only complain about expletives. I find plenty of other words ugly (eg 'guts', 'meat', 'fester', 'pimple', just to pick some top-of-mind examples) but I wouldn't seek to have them excluded from the language nor decry others who wished to use them. A wide and educated vocabulary should include oaths, cusses and brutal colloquialisms, but should elect to use them at times when they reinforce the message or add a dimension which cannot be added any other way. (Or for the sake of simple humour, of course.)

  • kushti

    18 May 2011 6:01PM

    My little girl has to design a childrens picture book for a school project.
    I suggested she call it 'Fucking Grow Up.' Is that OK now?

  • polarpolarpolarbear

    19 May 2011 2:47AM

    i'd imagine the film will be something along the lines of that tv series they made out of the "shit my dad says" twitter feed - only tangentially related to the thing its supposedly based on, and fucking awful along with it. and it'll probably star william shatner too.

  • Dylanwolf

    19 May 2011 9:34AM

    I'm hardly amazed nor surprised by the defenders of obscenties.

    They have their usual banal arguments. I'm not prohibiting anything - there is no problem with swear words per se. I have no hesitation in uttering profanities when I shut my finger in a door or make a special journey to the bank but find it closed.

    I love James Kelman's writing, Eddie Izzard is hilarious. Father Jack is amusing - and yes if he said fuck rather than feck it wouldn't be. Intention, on the part of the programme makers in this case, is all.

    I have no problem with you all celebrating "Go The Fuck To Sleep" as the very pinnacle of comic invention if you wish.

    Why do you all go into a froth of indignation because I have the temerity to find it unfunny and exploitative?

    The book is an exemplar of how the crude and vulgar has become normalised in our popular culture. I dislike and castigate it in the way that I dislike and castigate the Sun for pretending it is a newspaper.

    Makes me a patronizing snob and an ivory-tower elitist? Really?

    You'd have no problem with soft-porn descending from the top shelf to mix in with the In the Night Garden tie-ins? It's a matter of degree. I would campaign for the soft-porn to be cast out from the newsagent altogether and have it restricted to the grubby white-washed windowed sex-shop.

    I don't want "Go The Fuck To Sleep" banned I just want to sigh at the crudity and the gleeful celebration of it.

    And yes. I will look down on those who use swear words frequently in their everyday speech. Because when I'm quietly reading a book in the park, their potty-mouthed boisterousness is impinging on my liberty, not vice-versa.

  • Dylanwolf

    19 May 2011 10:02AM

    @inanimatt

    Swearing is language too, as colourful and expressive when used well as any other language. It's certainly not the exclusive property of the childish or thick. The beauty of language is diminished through censorship, not by using it in its full glory.

    Swearing is indeed a subset of language and my well be used colorfully and expressively. But most frequently what I hear "on the street" is the repeated use of fucking as a ubiquitous adjective - the dumb ur-grunt of the caveman.

    The beauty of language is achieved by censorship. Any work of literature is full of words that have been left out. I suggest you consider Borges' short story Library of Babel.

    So you think the book is childish, puerile and pointless? So what? There are other books. The addition of this book to the sum of human endeavour (however meagre) doesn't result in the loss of a better one

    .

    True, so what is your point?

    Decrying the state of popular culture and the spoiling of language isn't mature, wise, or intelligent. It's the bleating of the pretentious. Grow up and allow yourself to be childish on occasion. It'll make you more of a person, not less.

    No more is reveling in and accepting the state of popular culture mature, wise or intelligent. Constant questioning of the status quo and of popular beliefs and assumptions are critical to a healthy society, aren't they?

    In fact, those who champion and defend the use of obscenities are the ones who are being pretentious, patronizing and condescending. They are saying, look we are too sophisticated and shrewd to be corrupted by this triviality.

    In fact, our culture is seriously occluded by the malevolent force of commercialism, of which "Go The Fuck To Sleep" is a insignificant but pertinent symbol. This book will not sell because of its wit, It will sell because of its vulgarity. I think that's sad, is all.

  • Dylanwolf

    19 May 2011 10:28AM

    @bigbadd

    I do, indeed, swear. But infrequently, predominantly when I am alone, never gratuitously and only when I am upset or frustrated. Isn't that what swearing is for?

    I don't wish to preclude your enjoyment of profanities. Go ahead. But don't you feel a little foolish enjoying the adult equivalents of poo, pee, titty and bum?

    Personally I find most expressive uses of language tend to occur in, say, the sonnets of Shakespeare rather than on the walls of a urinal.

  • Dylanwolf

    19 May 2011 10:51AM

    @oscarwildebeest

    A wide and educated vocabulary should include oaths, cusses and brutal colloquialisms, but should elect to use them at times when they reinforce the message or add a dimension which cannot be added any other way. (Or for the sake of simple humour, of course.)

    I fully agree. Eddie Izzard's observation about American pronunciation - You say 'erbs, while we say herbs - because it's got a fucking aitch in it does not work as a joke without the profanity (and his unique delivery).

    Whilst "Go the Fuck To Sleep" would appear to be entirely lacking in wit - being, apparently a parody of an infant's bedtime story with the inset comments of a foul-mouthed parent.

    Can I please be allowed to find that unfunny, and it's apparent popularity wearisome?

  • Workshop

    19 May 2011 11:26AM

    The cover is just so superb, it must sureyt be impossible for anyone to take offence.

  • BigbadD

    19 May 2011 11:29AM

    @Dylanwolf

    "But don't you feel a little foolish enjoying the adult equivalents of poo, pee, titty and bum?"

    Actually, no. I don't feel foolish at all. I even had a little giggle when I read poo, pee, titty and bum. Why? Because it's humourous. It's very silly, but I don't necessarily see that as a fault.

    As you have pointed out yourself, the use of certain words can enhance the impact of certain sentiments. If that is the case, I fail to see your point.

    What's particularly laughable is your retort that "those who champion and defend the use of obscenities are the ones who are being pretentious, patronizing and condescending" when you follow it up in a later post with "I find most expressive uses of language tend to occur in, say, the sonnets of Shakespeare".

    I'm not too sure I can agree with you on who the pretentious party is.

    You don't seem to know which side of the fence you're on. Or, at the very least, you don't appear to have a specific idea of when language can and can't include swearing.

    Eddie Izzard using the word "fuck" is fine, but a book amusingly disguised as a children's book cannot?

    James Kelman's OK to use certain words, but the oiks in the park shouldn't because it's just not as witty?

    These don't strike me as the comments of someone who loves English as a language. These strike me as the statements of a snob.

    No one cares if you don't find the concept funny. But when you condescend with statements such as "Not while the massed forces of potty-speak threaten to drown out the beauty of language" you annoy people. That's the reason for the reaction.

  • Pumellhorne

    19 May 2011 12:03PM

    I have a question. Do the people who dislike the idea of this book (without having read it. Always a good start to an argument) have little children? Specifically do they have little children who won’t go to sleep? Do they spend hours every night close to tears, have no social life and have dinner separately to their partner because they’re tag-team parenting all evening trying to re-settle a child?

    I’m not asking if you’re parents. In my experience most people forget the frustration and misery of the nightly battle once their kids are older. They have other things to worry about then.

    Just a glance at this article says if you’re not a parent, don’t like swearing, don’t have at least one kid (probably under 5) who won’t sleep, this book is not for you, this article is not for you.

    From the author’s comments, this is a book about extreme frustration. Swearing is perfectly reasonable under the circumstances.

    I guess the objections are due the public nature of the swearing, but the book serves a purpose by telling parents they are not alone and that it’s normal to get angry, it doesn’t mean you don’t love your kids just because they wind you up.

    For new parents, bombarded by unfamiliar emotions, deprived of sleep and all their routines disrupted, this is important, supportive information.

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