I am very cranky this morning. I cannot think of a better day to write this. Ari did not go to sleep until 11pm and I wanted to throw myself out the window. I tried everything, but nothing worked. It was incredibly aggravating. Thank goodness there is someone out there who knows my pain. His name is Adam Mansbach and he wrote this genius book:

Here’s a closer look at the cover, just to drive the point home:

As a parent, I try to be diplomatic and reason with my child. I tell him if he sleeps, he will grow up to be big and strong, he’ll have more energy to run around on the playground. I’ve tried many many tactics to get my kid to sleep, but sometimes nothing works and the frustration makes me go insane.

Mansbach knows this frustration all too well. His daughter, Viven, was a terrible sleeper. He joked on Facebook one day that he was going to write a book entitled “Go the F#$k to Sleep.” He received such encouraging comments that he went out and actually wrote the book!

Mansbach is a Professor of Fiction at Rutgers University. Some of his previously published work includes: Angry Black White Boy, A Fictional History of The United States With Huge Chunks Missing, and genius b-boy cynics getting weeded in the garden of delights.

One of the great things about this book is that it spread through word-of-mouth and social networking. Here’s how I heard about it: my friend Amanda posted a link to the book on my Facebook page. I got unreasonably excited, because I related to the sentiment so much, and wrote Adam Mansbach asking for a copy to review. He thanked me for reaching out, and his agent sent me a copy!

Go The F$#k to Sleep is written in the style of a children’s book, but it is for adults, parents in particular. Here is a sentiment that you might be able to relate to, as a parent:

The flowers doze low in the meadows
And high on the mountains so steep.
My life is a failure, I’m a shitty-ass parent

Stop f#$king with me, please, and sleep.
Mansbach, Go the F#$k to Sleep

Here are some illustrations from the book:

All images copyright 2011, Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes

With every page of this book, I laughed in commiseration at each sardonic stanza.

I would like to personally thank Adam Mansbach, once again, for making me feel a little less alone as the parent of a troubled sleeper. I wish I was doing this right now:


What do you think? Can you relate Mansbach’s words?

For more information of Go the F#$k to Sleep click here.