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Not even his babysitter's most strenuous efforts can convince Joe the frog to go to bed.

Time for Bed, the Babysitter Said would have to top any parent's list of books not to give a preschooler who's experiencing separation anxiety. Intended as a hilarious romp, the book presents a battle of the wills between a frog babysitter and her frog charge. The menacing, overpowering babysitter is all dark, cavernous mouth; her mission is to tear her charge away from his chosen pursuits and hurl him into his dark room. In the end, the frog child gets the better of the sitter, but this point may be lost on preschoolers, who could see in this story their own worst fears brought to life. Lighthearted conflict of this sort may be pleasurable to older children, who are firmly grounded in their own identities, but this may be terrifying to younger children, for whom the book was written. Ages 2-5. (March) Copyright 1987 Cahners Business Information.

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PreS-Gr 2 Stories of few words but plenty of action and humor are rare; this froggy folly makes the grade. Young green Joe, a nattily overalled frog, has no intention of hopping to it when his long-legged babysitter makes her title announcement. He foils her at every leapgrabbing on to furniture as she tries to carry him off, pummelling her with pillows, jumping on her headuntil, exasperated, she finally asks him why he won't go to bed: ```Because you didn't say please,' Joe said.'' Joe acquiesces when she does ask, but a funny twist on the final page gives him the last laugh. The text is the story's bare bones, but these three-color ink and wash cartoon frogs, with their elongated splay-toed prehensile legs, and wide mouths are where the hilarity lie. Joe's actions are so exactly rebellious-child like (with a few unique amphibious touches) that kids will cheer his stretchy slapstick struggles and temporary victories. Copyright 1987 Cahners Business Information.