The Biggest Bed in the World by Lindsay Camp Illustrated by Jonathan Langley

I think anyone who has shared a bed at some point or another with their child/ren can appreciate the father's feelings in this book. As his family expands there is less and less room in the bed and therefore, less and less opportunity for a good night's sleep. I like how the Mom always seems pretty content to have her gaggle of children undercovers with her, but the Dad is sick and tired. So he decides to build the biggest bed he can after the upgraded bigger beds are no longer big enough. However, the biggest bed in the world was a bit too much for their house to handle and one day the bed kind of crashed/flew out of the house and ended up in the ocean. After that Dad banned everyone into their own bed but then realized he and mom were kind of lonely all alone.

I really really really like this book for a number of reasons. Firstly, it really connects to me because I am also part of a family-bed family and as tough as it can be (that's a whole different blog...) there is no where else my babies would be as comfortable. I do think that the story is a little unrealistic (or maybe it's just an idea that I haven't thought of yet) because instead of having multiple blankets for everyone, there is just one big blanket that is comprised of a bunch of smaller blankets sewn together. One blanket, even a big blanket, isn't enough for just the adults in my bed so I thought it was a novel idea.

I also really really really liked how each kid in the family had a B name. Ben, Billy, Beth, Bart, Brittany, Bella and Boris.

Harper Collins Publishers, 1999.