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Feet, Go to Sleep

Author Barbara Bottner
Illustrated by Maggie Smith
Ebook
RH Childrens Books | Knopf Books for Young Readers
On sale May 12, 2015 | 32 Pages | 9780449813270
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don’t) comes a gentle bedtime book that includes a proven relaxation technique parents can use to help their little ones go to sleep after an exciting day.
 
The sun has set and dinner is done, but Fiona is still excited about the day and is not at all ready for bed.
 
So her mom helps her settle down with their nightly ritual of sending each part of her—from her toes to her nose—off to sleep. As Fiona relaxes her body, she recalls a marvelous day at the beach where feet were for stomping in the waves, legs were for running after cousins, tummy was for holding strawberries, and arms were for catching beach balls. And bit by bit, memory by memory, Fiona slips from a great day into a good night.
 
Barbara Bottner and Maggie Smith create an action-packed day to remember and provide parents with a wonderful technique for helping their own busy little ones drift peacefully off to sleep.
  • SELECTION
    Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
Barbara Bottner grew up wanting to paint, dance, and tell stories. She went to college, studied in Paris as a painter and then, got lucky. She was asked to do sets for an Off Broadway Company called Café LA Mama, with the famous Ellen Stewart, who fostered the talents of people such as Tom O'Horgan, (Hair) Stacy Keach, Sam Shepherd, and Leonard Melfi who were creating experimental new works. The sets created by Bottner, alas, were too large; they overshadowed the actors. She was fired as a set designer and hired as an actress.

For two years she worked with an ensemble group which toured the US and Europe but was based in New York City. During that time she became a substitute teacher to augment her income. Because she had no training in early education, she was forced to make up her own curriculum. ("Couldn't play the piano or sing," she sighs.)

"Within a year, she had changed directions. "From out of nowhere," she says, "I decided to pursue children's book illustration. I thought I could do original work, rather than go into advertising, or starve as an unproved painter."

Bottner never dreamed of becoming a writer. But after an award-winning playwright wrote a manuscript for her, which was not accepted, she decided to try for herself. "It was a big surprise, getting to meet editors and receive encouragement," she says. "That was the old days, when people really had time to foster new talent. I had a few book 'dummies' before the first one was accepted. I had so little encouragement as an artist, that I was astonished. It's really been a wonderful experience for me. The other things I've done, journalism, animation, television and script writing, book reviewing, humor essays, non-fiction, all were born from the careful guidance of my editors through the years.

"I also began to teach. Since I was really an uneducated writer, I had to figure out for myself why stories worked or not. I'm proud to say that many writers, full of talent, passed through my doors and through the doors of my heart and learned along with me."

Barbara Bottner has written and illustrated more than twenty books for children, including Bootsie Barker Bites, which was named a Junior Library Guild Selection for 1992. She also writes for both film and television.

Ms. Bottner lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Gerald, whose music can also cause changes in the weather.

copyright 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

View titles by Barbara Bottner
Maggie Smith is the author/illustrator of many fine picture books. View titles by Maggie Smith

About

From the New York Times bestselling author of Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don’t) comes a gentle bedtime book that includes a proven relaxation technique parents can use to help their little ones go to sleep after an exciting day.
 
The sun has set and dinner is done, but Fiona is still excited about the day and is not at all ready for bed.
 
So her mom helps her settle down with their nightly ritual of sending each part of her—from her toes to her nose—off to sleep. As Fiona relaxes her body, she recalls a marvelous day at the beach where feet were for stomping in the waves, legs were for running after cousins, tummy was for holding strawberries, and arms were for catching beach balls. And bit by bit, memory by memory, Fiona slips from a great day into a good night.
 
Barbara Bottner and Maggie Smith create an action-packed day to remember and provide parents with a wonderful technique for helping their own busy little ones drift peacefully off to sleep.

Awards

  • SELECTION
    Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year

Author

Barbara Bottner grew up wanting to paint, dance, and tell stories. She went to college, studied in Paris as a painter and then, got lucky. She was asked to do sets for an Off Broadway Company called Café LA Mama, with the famous Ellen Stewart, who fostered the talents of people such as Tom O'Horgan, (Hair) Stacy Keach, Sam Shepherd, and Leonard Melfi who were creating experimental new works. The sets created by Bottner, alas, were too large; they overshadowed the actors. She was fired as a set designer and hired as an actress.

For two years she worked with an ensemble group which toured the US and Europe but was based in New York City. During that time she became a substitute teacher to augment her income. Because she had no training in early education, she was forced to make up her own curriculum. ("Couldn't play the piano or sing," she sighs.)

"Within a year, she had changed directions. "From out of nowhere," she says, "I decided to pursue children's book illustration. I thought I could do original work, rather than go into advertising, or starve as an unproved painter."

Bottner never dreamed of becoming a writer. But after an award-winning playwright wrote a manuscript for her, which was not accepted, she decided to try for herself. "It was a big surprise, getting to meet editors and receive encouragement," she says. "That was the old days, when people really had time to foster new talent. I had a few book 'dummies' before the first one was accepted. I had so little encouragement as an artist, that I was astonished. It's really been a wonderful experience for me. The other things I've done, journalism, animation, television and script writing, book reviewing, humor essays, non-fiction, all were born from the careful guidance of my editors through the years.

"I also began to teach. Since I was really an uneducated writer, I had to figure out for myself why stories worked or not. I'm proud to say that many writers, full of talent, passed through my doors and through the doors of my heart and learned along with me."

Barbara Bottner has written and illustrated more than twenty books for children, including Bootsie Barker Bites, which was named a Junior Library Guild Selection for 1992. She also writes for both film and television.

Ms. Bottner lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Gerald, whose music can also cause changes in the weather.

copyright 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

View titles by Barbara Bottner
Maggie Smith is the author/illustrator of many fine picture books. View titles by Maggie Smith

Other Books by this Author

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