Add this to your bookshelf: ‘Go The F**k to Sleep’

"Go the F*ck to Sleep", for real life parents, by Adam Mansbach.

Finally! A children’s book us Imperfect Parents can get behind. Of course, it’s not for those parents who have a gigantic, pointy and uncomfortably knobby stick up their ass, but rather for parents who can relate to the night-time chaos, the pleading and negotiating that takes place when mom and/or dad is simply over it and ready to watch some soft porn Spartacus while knocking down a few. All this, just to prepare them for the next day when the shit hits the fan all over again.

While the title was edited in my subject line, it is indeed called, Go The Fuck to Sleep. Written by Adam Mansbach, who is an award winning author of previous titles including The End of the Jews and Angry White Black Boy, has seemingly decided that he was going to take on the politically correct crowd and bring some levity to this prison sentence called parenting. While the joys of parenthood are few, I would be quite the a-hole if I didn’t at least admit that they are quite worth it, but let’s be honest, some of us rely on humor in order to cope with the sucky parts.

I’m thinking you might just be the hippest chick in the room if this becomes your go-to baby shower gift. Here’s an excerpt from this beautifully illustrated book:

The cats nestle close to their kittens now.
The lambs have laid down with the sheep.
You’re cozy and warm in your bed, my dear
Please go the fuck to sleep.

Online book stores are now taking pre-orders on the much anticipated children’s book which is due to be released in October 2011. While the book appears to be getting the accolades it so deserves:

“This is the most honest children’s book ever written. And it’s f*cking hilarious.”—A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

“Total genius.”—Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn

There are still a few buzz kills who simply don’t get it. Take this reviewer on Barnes and Noble:

Posted April 27, 2011, 1:40 PM EST: The title alone is absolutely wrong and should not be published. Some ignorant people will actually read this book to their children!!! How terrible and sad. What has our world come to that a book with this title would even be considered? What a sick sense of humor! Please re-think your decision to publish this.

In the end, nobody’s going to read this to their children and if they do, they have brain damage and shouldn’t have kids anyway and are probably already shitty parents, so who cares? This book is for the grown-ups. A well kept secret. An innocuous joke on our kids. God knows they play us to the point of drinking, so why not save this little chuckle as a keepsake and refer to it in the most trying of times?

The take away? Sometimes it’s better to laugh at your kids then laugh with them. It’s called pure, unadulterated honesty. The world needs more Go the Fuck to Sleep bedtime stories. Perhaps this book is symbolic of a parenting world gone mad with trying to make sure children never experience a second of unhappiness, but I truly believe that the best parents have a sense of humor and make a serious effort to not take themselves too seriously. For those parents, this one’s for you kid.