7 Picture Books for Kids Who Do NOT Want to Go to Sleep!

Bedtime is Canceled, by Cece Meng and Aurelie Neyret
Maggie has an ingenious way to get out of bedtime: she has her brother write a note stating that “bedtime is canceled.” Even though her parents don’t buy it, the note ends up getting blown away by the wind and into the hands of a newspaper reporter across town. The message ends up on the front page of tomorrow’s paper, and everyone believes it! (At least for a night.) This hilarious book is every kid’s dream come true.

The Berenstain Bears’ Bedtime Battle, by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain 
Apparently resisting bedtime isn’t limited to just kids—even the Berenstain cubs don’t want to go to sleep! Mama and Papa bear try to wrangle their little bears into bed, with little success. Why go to sleep when you can keep playing?

How to Put Your Parents to Bed, by Mylisa Larsen and Babette Cole 
This book is a funny twist on the traditional bedtime story! No one wants to go to sleep, so it’s this precocious protagonist’s job to put her parents to bed for once. “Poor things. Just between you and me, they are not looking their best. They need to go to BED.” Parents, it’s time to turn off the laptop, put away the cell phone, and get to sleep.

Pirate’s Lullaby: Mutiny at Bedtime, by Marcie Wessels and Tim Bowers 
It’s almost half past eight, and Papa Pirate wants “his first mate, not-so-sleepy Ned” to pack up his pirate booty and go to sleep, while Ned would rather have adventures on the high seas than dream about them. After a dramatic rescue of Captain Teddy (his teddy bear) a yarn or two (books), and a drink of water, someone (Papa Pirate) finally calls it a day.

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, by Bob Shea
Nothing can stop this little red roaring dinosaur. Not bath time, not tooth brushing, not spaghetti. Dinosaur will triumph once again! Well, almost nothing…in bedtime, this spirited dino may have met his match.

I Don’t Want to Go to Bed!, by Julie Sykes and Tim Warnes 
How many times has this phrase been uttered by reluctant sleepers? In this book it’s spoken by Little Tiger who says it so many times to his frustrated tiger mom that she finally caves in. Woohoo! But when tiger heads into the jungle to play with his friends, he soon discovers that staying up past bedtime isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Orion and the Dark, by Emma Yarlett
Some kids don’t want to go to sleep because they’re afraid of the dark, and Orion and the Dark is the perfect bedtime book to read with them before turning out the lights. In this story, the dark comes to life and shows Orion (by taking him on a super fun adventure) that the dark is not so scary after all.