Good Night Moon

The ultimate going-to-bed book.

Author: Margaret Wise Brown Illustrator: Clement Hurd Pages: 32 Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books Published Date: 01/01/1991 Genre: Fiction - Picture Book HC Price: $11.17 Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: Baby-Preschool Read Aloud: 0-5

Common Sense Note

Pediatricians recommend that a child have a bedtime routine, something familiar and soothing that indicates the end of the play day and time for rest. This book takes the doctor's advice.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Mary Dixon Weidler

For more than fifty years this has been the ultimate going-to-bed book, the first book parents share with their children, the book kids ask for again and again, and the one parents don't mind reading again and again. It's easy to see why--author Brown and illustrator Hurd do everything right.

The book itself is smaller than many picture books, just the right size for young hands to hold. The colors are simple and vivid, gradually getting dimmer in the room as the night sky get brighter outside the window. The rhythm is slow and calming, the rhymes are soft, the ritual of bidding good night to the familiar objects in the room is appealing.

The pictures are full of interesting details--the paintings hanging on the wall in bunny's room are of scenes from another Brown-Hurd collaboration, The Runaway Bunny.

Pediatricians recommend that a child have a bedtime routine, something familiar and soothing that indicates the end of the play day and time for rest. This book takes the doctor's advice. As the bunny goes through the ritual of saying goodnight to everyone and everything, children often add their own goodnight greetings. After a reading, one five-year-old said, "Goodnight, Goodnight Moon book."

From the Book:

Goodnight comb

And goodnight brush

Goodnight nobody

Goodnight mush

And goodnight to the old lady whispering, "Hush."

Plot Summary:

As a fire crackles in the fireplace and the moon rises in a wintry night sky outside the windows of his bedroom, a young rabbit settles down for the night. An old lady rabbit rocks quietly in a nearby chair knitting, mittens dry in front of the fire, two kittens tumble on the carpet, and a mouse peeks out. The room grows gradually dimmer as the rabbit says goodnight to each object in his room and outside the window, then falls asleep at last.

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