Peggy Rathmann

10 Minutes Till Bedtime Peggy Rathmann

At One Hoppin' Place, the countdown to bedtime is about to begin when a family of hamsters -- a mother and father with nine kids and a baby all wearing numbered striped jerseys -- arrive at the front door. "All aboard!" the child's pet hamster, dressed as a tour guide, shouts, directing them to his bus. It's off to the kitchen for a snack, to the bathroom for toothbrushing, to the bedroom for a story. And just as the child begins to read, the tour guide looks out the window and shouts, "More coming!" Busloads and carloads of vacationing hamsters stream through the front door, and the escapades accelerate from one action-packed page to the next, as the countdown continues.