****10 Minutes Till Bedtime

by Peggy Rathman

Reviewed July 18, 2002.
Scholastic, 1998.  48 pages.

Every time you read this book with a child, you’ll find more visual details to notice.

The book opens with a pet hamster finishing his website:  “Hamsters!  Take the 10-Minute Bedtime Tour!”  Sure enough, when the father (busy reading his paper) calls out, “10 minutes till Bedtime!” a big family of ten hamsters comes to get their tour of the house.  The minutes count down as the child and the hamsters explore the house and end up in a wild party.  Can they all be out of sight by bedtime?

There isn’t much text in this book except the counting down of the minutes until bedtime.  The pictures are magnificent.  After awhile, you’ll notice that the ten hamsters in the family (who all wear numbers on their shirts) each have distinct personalities.  Number 9, for example, can always be found perched up high.

Great fun for preschool to early school age kids.  And of course I never recommend a book that I don’t enjoy, too.

Copyright © 2003 Sondra Eklund.  All rights reserved.

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