Goodnight Everyone

Goodnight Everyone 
By Chris Haughton
Candlewick Press, 2016.

If you are like me you might know many little readers who require a story before being tucked into bed—and perhaps these same readers sometimes deny the fact that they are tired and should go to bed (even if they obviously are bordering that cranky frenzy where they fight sleep with all their might). Well, this is another story to add to the “let’s read a calm book that will hopefully help get you in the right mood to fall asleep” type of genre.

In this book there are four animals that are starting to get sleepy: mice, hares, deer, and bears. All of the animals—except one—acknowledge how sleepy they are and are quite content to get ready for bed. But Little Bear is wide awake. Little Bear wants to play. However, as all grownups know too well, eventually Great Big Bear watches Little Bear yawn. With all the rest of the animals sleeping, and a kiss goodnight, soon Little Bear is sound asleep as well. With illustrations that have cute animals with drooping/sleepy eyes and colors that cool and deepen as dusk turns to night, little readers will appreciate seeing Little Bear’s calm (and, with gratitude from many grownups, uneventful) bedtime journey.