Something for every child at bedtime (Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown)

Member Name: poet831

Product:	Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
Date:	02/05/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A gentle end to a busy day, this book provides a quiet calming down period, and can also be used to

Disadvantages: Wish it was longer . . .

This is a lovely book and comes into it's own, I think, at bedtimes. The content is very simple, the essence of saying "goodnight"to everything before going to sleep. I think this is an extremely nice ending to a child's day, and calms them and soothes them before we leave them for the night. It is a useful idea, actually, for a bedtime ritual with your own child. You can read the story and then the child can say his own "good night's" to favourite toys and mummy, daddy, siblings, etc and then say his prayers, if that is a part of your family ritual. It becomes a special part of the day.
I think the charm in this book is actually it's simplicity. Sometimes children's books want to bombard them with information ... this book is just very gentle in it's approach, and therein lies its attraction. I have "read" to babies about a year old, who love the bright illustrations, and continued with the fours and fives. At the older ages, I've also used it as a reading aid - allowing chubby little fingers to point to the words as we've said the words.

I have rated it ordinary in some of the categories as it is this ordinariness, I think, that makes this book such an excellent choice for toddlers and preschoolers. Too often we want to bombard them with books that each, and at the end of the day, we don't need to be stimulating them. We want to remove all the excitement and slow them down so that they can settle in to a nice sleep. The very ordinariness helps to do this. And children like to reiterate the book by then saying "goodnight" to their own toys and surroundings.
I feel that this book could also be useful for those whose children have nightmares, as it is soothing and gives a closure to the day. Nothing frightening to play on their minds. just a slow farewell to the day.

This is a must have for every child's bookshelf.

Summary: a must have childrens book