Goodnight Moon 60th Anniversary Edition

At the April BookCrossing meeting Sean and I were given a stack of children's books. Goodnight Moon is one of those books. Goodnight Moon is one of those books that's so ubiquitous that one starts to take it for granted. I realized I knew the story and yet hadn't ever read it myself. I don't even know if my mother read it to me. Nor did I know Margaret Wise Brown had written it. In retrospect I should have know she wrote the book, she seems to have written most of the classics. I can see the appeal of Goodnight Moon to young children. The soothing rhyme first introduces the characters (the old woman, the two kittens, the young mouse and of course the young bunny) and sets the scene (the room, the toys, the pictures, and so forth). Then it is time to undo the set up by saying goodnight to everything. As a coda, some extra things beyond the initial scene are also wished a goodnight ending with a wistful: "goodnight noises everywhere."

UPDATE: Fellow parents, I've found the disturbing detail of the book. Look at fishing painting the 'Goodnight room' page. The big bunny is fishing for a little bunny with a carrot on the end of his line. Bunny cannibalism! -- I've read this book to my daughter every night for the last ~6 months and have started to develop theories about it. Why doesn't it say goodnight to the little bunny in bed (especially considering the 'goodnight nobody' page)? Where is the old lady in the beginning? Why is the light on in the little house after all the other lights are out? Why does the little bunny get out of bed and then back in bed again? So many questions... 'Goodnight moon / goodnight cow jumping over the moon' is an inspired rhyming pair.

My son loves this book so I love this book. Meter and rhythm be damned -- he loves it.

This is such a sweet classic children's book. My daughter loves it when we read this to her.