Book Review: Go The F**k to Sleep

I bought this book when my son was very young as a joke, after hearing about hilarious it was.  After reading it, I actually thought that it exuded a sort of genius.  My favorite thing about this book is the combination of poetry and excellent illustrations that at first glance are completely unrelated.

In case you have never heard of this book titled "Go The F**K to Sleep." Let me tell you about it.  It was authored by Adam Mansbach and illustrated by Ricardo Cortes.  It was advertised as a children's book for adults, which is exactly what it is :)  Mr. Mansbach was inspired to write this book when his daughter was 2 and would take 2 hours to go to sleep. 

Fun Facts: The book reached #1 on the Amazon Best Seller list before it was officially released.  This was due to a viral marketing campaign which was caused by forwarding of the pdf version through e-mail.  Audible.com and audio book company published an audio book version with Samuel L. Jackson doing the reading.  Mansbach also wrote a more child friendly book called "Seriously, Go To Sleep." which is suitable for reading with your children.

I purchased this book during the 15 month period of my son never sleeping through the night.  Although it felt relevant at the time, I find that it's true relevance was not revealed until my son could talk more and ask for things at night and especially most recently now that he no longer has sides on his bed and can get up and come out of his room as he pleases.  

My two favorite excerpts from the book are
"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."

"The giant pangolins of Madagascar are snoozing.  As I lie here and openly weep.  Sure, fine, whatever, I'll bring you some milk, who the fuck care?  You're not gonna sleep."

I think this book has added humor to me as the main premise of this book was being that Adam Mansbach was putting things into this book that parents do not say for fear of being called bad parents.  I would laugh loudly at the fact that some of these things are things that my dad openly said to my sister and I while growing up.  He wasn't afraid to tell us what he really thought.  Perhaps that helps us to speak our minds better in life now, rather than some of those around us....

If you haven't read this book you should definitely check it out.  It is a great conversation piece for your adult friends, however I wouldn't suggest reading it to your children due to the amount of profanity found within.  You can find it on amazon for under $10, or under $6 for used. A lot of my coworkers loved when I brought this work to share with them :)

In case you haven't heard the amazing reading by Samuel L. Jackson, here it is courtesy of YouTube.  Enjoy!