Disclosure: I did not receive any compensation for this review. Cover art is copyright of Golden Press.*
This book is about Little Critter. I do not know what kind of critter he is or why he has such an ambivalent name, but it is what it is.
In this book, Little Critter is using his imagination to its full potential. He imagines himself as all different kinds of professions and creatures – a cowboy, a sea monster, a superhero – but his father stomps all over his happiness, telling him to do ridiculous things like have a bath, put on pajamas, and go to bed.
At first, Little Critter’s father intercepts each of his adventures in character. He is a robot capturing the space cadet, or a bandit chasing the engineer. Then his temper begins to grow. If you want to read a book about bedtime from a parent’s perspective, Adam Mansbach wrote a good one.
I cannot help but empathise with Little Critter’s plight. Sleep is overrated. Imagination is everything. Adults are too uptight about these things. I know because someone has written “brush your teeth” in pencil before “and go to bed” in this book. Little critters do not brush their teeth!
‘Just Go To Bed’ by Mercer Mayer is about imagination in its prime being stilted for something as mundane as sleep. It is a stark and honest depiction of the imaginative potential of a child, juxtaposed with the “necessities” of life.
