TO BED...OR ELSE!

Asha's Mom is at her wits' end because Asha and her best friend Hannah can't seem to settle down. She threatens, ""By the time I count to three, you two will be in bed and asleep...OR ELSE!!!"" The girls try to imagine what she means: she might bake them in a pie, give all their toys away, ""make us take horrible medicine,"" or even ""turn us into flogs."" Meanwhile, Mom has been reduced to counting in fractions, but fortunately the girls decide to go to sleep before she's put to the test--as the author subversively divulges, she didn't really have a plan. Though the publisher doesn't reveal the book's country of origin, the cheery, expressive illustrations have a slightly European look; but the experience here is universal. Not essential, but an amusing portrayal of an overenthusiastic friendship, plus one of discipline's commoner pitfalls.