Once Upon a Time, the End (Asleep in 60 Seconds) by Geoffrey Kloske, illustrated by Barry Blitt.

This is a wonderful picture book that will be enjoyed by smaller children on a certain level, but will be appreciated by older elementary students most of all.  A father is trying to read his child to sleep and begins skipping parts of the stories, leading to very funny results.  Stories like Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, The Princess and the Pea and the Three Little Pigs are all rushed through, each ending with a reason for the child to just fall asleep. 

This one is perfect reading for a lock-in for older elementary kids or a parent reading aloud to a class.   It was great fun to read aloud to my 8-year-old son, who immediately asked for it to be read again.  His 4-year-old brother didn’t get a lot of the humor, but still enjoyed the stories. 

Share this with fans of other versions of twisted fairy tales.  The humor here will have kids who know their stories laughing out loud and happily sharing the book with friends. 

BWIBooks has an interview with Gail Gibbons, author of amazing nonfiction picture books for children on a wide, wide variety of subjects.  The interview talks about how she comes up with new ideas to write about, how the illustrations come about, and the process of creating her books.