The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds by Marisabina Russo.

Three sweet little white bunnies are tucked in bed, warm and cozy.  All is quiet while Mama and Daddy sit reading downstairs.  But then they hear an odd noise coming from upstairs.  “Sounds like the bunnies are not in their beds.”  The parent bunnies put the children back to bed again, resume their quiet time downstairs, but are again interrupted by noise from above.  This happens again and again with the parents getting more and more irate at the behavior.  The ending is a fun twist for children who also hate to go to bed.

I love many things about this book.  First, there are the quiet moments of the parents downstairs, reassuringly dull and normal for children who assume that once they are in bed the parents start having real fun.  Then there are the odd noises from above that lead to the parents heading upstairs and then the page turn occurs where children listening to the story have a chance to guess what is causing the ruckus this time.  Nicely done to create a little intrigue and participation.  I also appreciate that while the parents are very patient at first, they do hit the end of their rope and finally list all of the things in a loud voice (or at least in capital letters) that the little bunnies are not to do at bedtime. 

Add this one to a spring storytime on bunnies or your pajama storytime about heading to bed.  Preschoolers will enjoy it most of all.

(In the interest of full disclosure, this was sent to me by the publisher.)