ALA Booklist (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

It begins as a lark. Maggie and her brother write the declaration on a slip of paper and toss it into the trash after their parents give it the stink eye. But a gust of wind lands it on a reporter's desk and, bang, it's the front-page headline: "BEDTIME IS CANCELED!" Out come the phones and tablets, and e-mails are forwarded. Soon every parent in the nation is a beleaguered custodian to kids who have no intention of sleeping: "Pajamas lay unworn in their drawers. Bathtubs stood empty. Teddy bears sat on nicely made beds pty." In a rascally style recalling Brad Bird, Neyret depicts the rampaging kids and, most humorously, the ever-wearying adults as they accidentally butter the dog's tail instead of bread and fall asleep in their potatoes. The good news: Meng fills this quirky tale with enough energy and sly side observations to support an entire movie. The better news: a few reads of this ought to tire out kids before their not-canceled-after-all bedtimes.

Horn Book

A note reading "Bedtime is canceled"--penned in jest by two siblings--blows onto the desk of a reporter and ultimately becomes a newspaper headline. Meng sees her promising concept through, showing not just the comedic anarchy resulting from exhausted adults but also the downside of a bedtime-free world for kids. The cartoonish digitally rendered art employs an unattractive palette.

Kirkus Reviews

A bedtime prank goes viral, resulting in giggle-inspiring consequences. Maggie and her brother write a note to their parents announcing the cancellation of bedtime. Of course their parents don't believe it and throw the note in the trash. The note flies out the window, lands on a reporter's desk, becoming headline news in print and on television and in endlessly forwarded emails. Now bedtime really is canceled, and chaos ensues. The children stay up all night playing, snacking and watching TV, with this scenario repeated all over town. Morning brings exhausted adults who can't function, though children seem remarkably unaffected. The next note takes pity and, to every parent's delight, revokes the disastrous change and reinstates the natural order of things. All these notes work so well that Maggie and her brother try a new message….Meng playfully expands and exaggerates children's efforts to put off the inevitable lights-out and turns a universal tug of war into a hilarious tour de force, with the children decidedly in charge and loving it. Neyret's digital illustrations have a mangalike sensibility, depicting very modern settings with wide-eyed, expressive characters, joyfully enhancing the goofy proceedings and adding a few sly touches of her own. Suspend all disbelief and enjoy. (Picture book. 4-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

-The note read -Bedtime is canceled.- Maggie thought of it. Her brother wrote it.- Of course, the siblings- parents don-t buy the ruse upon receiving the note, but a fortuitous gust of wind whisks it to the desk of a newspaper reporter who puts the -official- word on the front page, and the news spreads. As a result, kids play, snack, and watch TV all night, and adults shuffle zombielike through the next day. Meng (I Will Not Read This Book) includes several nods to today-s rapid-fire dispersal of information (-A television reporter received an urgent text about it and raced to the school-) as well as goofy non sequiturs (-tired moms and dads were so busy yawning, some of them buttered the dog-s tail instead of the toast-), while French illustrator Neyret, making her U.S. debut, employs digital artwork featuring exaggerated facial expressions and a warm palette dominated by reds, oranges, and violets. But both the text and prose have a muted, even sleepy, quality that doesn-t live up to the -kids rule- mayhem of the premise. Ages 4-8. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Nov.)