When bickering twins, Alec and Brenda, discover bedtime storybooks throughout their neighborhood are disappearing, they're forced to confront a mean, old junkyard owner, or no one in third grade will hear a bedtime story ever again.

SYNOPSIS:

No one remembers the last night their parents read them a bedtime story. Sadly, it just happens. However, one day, bickering twins, Alec and Brenda (9), and a few of their third-grade classmates, discover a few of their classic story books have inexplicably disappeared. To make matters worse, the twins discover several of their favorite bedtime books disappear the next night too!

Each day, more classmates appear cranky and tired, and some stayed awake half the night after being denied bedtime stories. Their teacher, Mrs. Scoggins, sees failing creative essays from her entire class. This is a disaster. Walking the one block home from school, the twins pass the Old Ancient Secondhand Antique Emporium and Junkyard on Last Street, owned by Old Man Rapple, and see many items that remind them of their missing books. They investigate, only to be caught by Mr. Rapple, and hauled off in a police car.

This means war! Third grade is a madhouse with so many students lacking sleep from being denied bedtime stories and books. The twins are hit with boyfriend- and girlfriend-issues they didn’t know they had with friends, Willy and Chelsea. On Friday, the day of tests, a costume parade, and a class picnic, the twins take matters into their own hands.

The twins lead their classmates in the costume parade, not to the playground as designed, but to storm old man Rapple’s place in an epic battle to rescue their precious bedtime storybooks. The kids, dressed like superheroes and heroes of every type, are armed with toy swords, plastic baseball bats, lightsabers, pirate swords, and every manner of childhood weaponry. However, the weapons are useless battling the junk. The tide changes when the twins remove the sword in the stone by pulling together. They storm the house with a final charge to save their stories, as Mr. Rapple, surprisingly, cheers them on! They recover their bedtime story books and more, and Mr. Rapple rewards Alec and Brenda with brass keys: the “Keys to Every Story” with a Beginning, a Middle, and an End.

However, the adventure of a lifetime remains in store for Alec and Brenda, who claim their story needs a true “End” to their unanswered questions. With their parents and best friends, Willy and Chelsea, the twins return to Mr. Rapple’s junkyard and creepy old house that night to face their darkest fears, answer gnawing questions, and successfully end their story. That night, every child hears a fabulous bedtime story.

THE LAST NIGHTTIME STORY