Bedtime on the Farm by Alex Eeles (illustrated by Davide Ortu, as credited on the cover) is a Red band reader in the Cambridge Reading Adventures series for Prep at Lahore Grammar School (LGS). The cover shows a boy in a turquoise cap and a purple waistcoat beside a wooden water barrel, a thatched hut and a kennel, under a dark-blue night sky full of stars.
Dev is a farmer who wants his animals in bed. The animals have other ideas. For a Prep child in the 2027-28 session, this is a gently funny story about the one battle every family knows: getting everyone to bed.
What happens in the book
According to the teaching notes, Dev wants to put the animals to bed, but they need persuading. Strong support from the illustrations gives plenty of opportunities to start reading in phrases. Sentences and phrases repeat across up to four lines of text, which consolidates one-to-one matching and the return sweep. Dev says ‘I will go and get the animals,’ and then ‘But where are they?’, and on page 4 the cow will not go to bed at all.
The word ‘says’ may be unfamiliar to many children and needs support before reading. There are plenty of known high-frequency words to practise and many regular decodable words.
What your child learns from it
The publisher’s teaching notes list these learning outcomes. A child who reads this book can:
- use punctuation to inform phrasing and expression;
- use phonic knowledge to solve new and novel words;
- comment on the events and characters in the story, making links to other stories.
How to read it together at home
The guided reading lesson printed in the book gives a simple routine you can follow:
- Read the title and say: Dev is putting the animals to bed, but they do not want to go.
- On page 2, ask your child to find all the places where the animals live and to guess which animal lives in each.
- Tell your child the farmer is called Dev; ask them to say his name slowly and find it in the text.
- Rehearse the longer sentence ‘I will go and get the animals’ by reading aloud while your child follows each word, then do the same with ‘But where are they?’, noticing the question mark.
- On page 4, ask why the cow will not go to bed, and look at Dev’s face in the picture.
Fun learning links beyond the book
For maths, the story shows a night-time routine on a farm. Children can talk about the jobs on a farm and sort them into Day and Night, or into Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night. For PSHE, ask how your child looks after animals at home or in the neighbourhood: feeding the birds, giving water to the cat. The notes mention that ‘Looking after Animals’ in the Pink B band would be a good book to read next.
About the Red band
Red band is where the teaching notes ask children to start following the print with their eyes and to use a finger only at points of difficulty, while reading longer, repeated sentences.
Who, when, where and why
Whom: Prep children (about five years old). When: during the 2027-28 session, ideally in the evening when it is nearly their own bedtime. Where: at school and at home. Why: to practise phrased, expressive reading with a story every child understands. Book lists at LGS are almost the same from campus to campus, with a few campuses following their own for some subjects, so message us your campus name first and we will confirm this exact book with you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main idea?
Dev wants the animals in bed, but they do not agree.
Who illustrated it?
Davide Ortu is credited on the cover.
What band is it?
Red band.
Order Bedtime on the Farm online with Cash on Delivery across Pakistan, or visit our shop in Lahore. Message us the class and campus on WhatsApp and we will confirm the edition before we dispatch.
