The hour was late and Mr Bear was tired. But he could not sleep-however he tried and wherever he tried. Snore snore went Mrs Bear, tick-tock, tick tock went the clock, would he never get to sleep? So begins the story of peace at last by Jill Murphy.

Unable to sleep Mr Bear goes into baby Bears room. Baby bear isn't asleep either and is pretending to be an aeroplane! Mr Bear goes into the kitchen but the leaky tap and hum of the fridge isn't helpful either!

Outside in the garden Mr Bear settles down to try to get some much needed sleep, but the snuffling of a hedgehog and miaaowing of the neighbourhood cats doesn't allow this! Next he tried to sleep in his car, but the dawn chorus starts and keeps him awake.

Mr Bear eventually goes back into the house and to his own bed. Mrs Bear has stopped snoring and baby Bear is now fast asleep, so he gets some peace at last! However just as he settles down to sleep the alarm clock goes off. Mrs Bear asks how he slept and Mr Bear tells her that it wasn't very well. Mrs Bear offers to make him a nice cup of tea.

This is a very simple tale that will appeal to young children. It is a fairly short story making it idea bedtime reading. The illustrations are big and bright with added black and white line drawings on every page. We have the paperback version of this book at its RRP is £3.99.

Although my children are now much too old to appreciate this book, when they were younger it was a favourite. Once they started to read independently this was a book they could read easily s there is a lot of repetition.

Overall I highly recommend this lovely story to anyone with young children!