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It’s Bedtime, William! – Deborah Niland (book review)

January 23, 2015 By Emily 18 Comments

This week, I’m reviewing It’s Bedtime, William!, written and illustrated by Deborah Niland.

cover

It’s bedtime. And William doesn’t want to go to bed. He’s not at all tired.

But his parents insist. No argument persuades them to let William stay up. So he stomps off to bed…

not-fair

…only to find that a lion has already fallen asleep in it.

What will William do now?

I am a big fan of Deborah Niland’s illustrations. There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake. When the Wind Changed. Mulga Bill’s Bicycle. But I’m not as familiar with her writing.

That’s something I’m going to rectify. It’s Bedtime, William! is a cracker of a read. It’s fun and funny, and with an oh-so-cute ending that some will see coming, but that I didn’t.

toilet

Our four-and-a-half-year-old daughter has recently started complaining about bedtime, and coming up with excuses to leave her bed and room. I’m just going to the toilet! Can I please have a drink of water? Can I please turn my fan on? I forgot to tell you something!

It’s not a big problem yet, but it happens often enough for all of us to recognise it in the book. And nod. And laugh.

She loves reading this book. So does my almost-two-year-old son, but mostly because he likes to roar whenever he sees a picture of a lion. He hardly has any voice left at the end of this book!

Recommended for lion-loving readers aged three and up.

 

Have you read It’s Bedtime, William!? What did you think?

*The links in this post are affiliate links. If you click to buy the item, I earn a little commission but you don’t pay any extra.

Filed Under: Book reviews, For children Tagged With: book review, books, Deborah Niland, It's Bedtime William, words

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Comments

  1. David Hawkins says

    January 23, 2015 at 11:27 am

    Thanks for the tops review Em! Little E is fighting bedtime like he’s the French Resistance; disrupting night time services and trying to assassinate the sanity of his parental captors.
    I’m going to track down It’s Bedtime, William and see he can recognise himself in it.

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:09 pm

      Definitely worth it. Will have links to purchase in this post over the weekend.

      Reply
  2. Emily @ Have A Laugh On Me says

    January 23, 2015 at 12:18 pm

    Haven’t read it but need to for my 3.5yo – he’s not a fan of bed at the moment!

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:10 pm

      It’s a winner! You can see the kids’ eyes gleaming at the start, as they file away all the excuses for later use. But then when William cops it, the penny drops. Oh. It’s annoying.

      Reply
  3. dani @ sand has no home says

    January 23, 2015 at 2:18 pm

    Ah this book looks just gorgeous.

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:10 pm

      It is! I salute thee, Deborah Niland!

      Reply
  4. Fiona says

    January 23, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    WIll it give them more ideas? But VERY cute.

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:11 pm

      Ha, it might, but hopefully they empathise enough by the end of it to hold back!

      Reply
  5. Lisa@RandomActsOfZen says

    January 23, 2015 at 3:16 pm

    Such glorious illustrations, Em 🙂

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:11 pm

      Aren’t they adorable? I hope I find a lion in my bed tonight. (That sounds like a terrible euphemism.)

      Reply
  6. Malinda @mybrownpaperpackages says

    January 23, 2015 at 9:08 pm

    Love the sound of this, will have to see if I can hunt down a copy.

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:12 pm

      Good luck! I’ll have links in this post shortly.

      Reply
  7. Tash @ Gift Grapevine says

    January 24, 2015 at 12:11 am

    William has a very cheeky look on the front cover – reminds me exactly of Mr TT!

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:12 pm

      He is SOOOO cheeky!

      Reply
  8. Grace says

    January 24, 2015 at 1:34 pm

    Gorgeous! Will look into this book. We love the illustrations in Mulga Bill’s Bicycle.
    The twinions are FOREVER asking for something to eat, or drink or go to the toilet. It’s such a loooooong stretch to bed time!

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:12 pm

      Mulga Bill is still on the favourites list in this house. Maybe after this book, they can take turns being the lion and entertain each other until they fall asleep?!

      Reply
  9. Hugzilla says

    January 26, 2015 at 9:09 am

    We have all of those books you mentioned, and I love the illustrations on this. So quirky. I’m gonna have to see if our local library has a copy.

    Reply
    • Em says

      January 30, 2015 at 10:13 pm

      I hope they do – good luck!

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Emily

I parent. I write. I blog. I play with words and numbers in my head. Constantly. It's crowded in there.

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