Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, Pictures by Clement Hurd

Image

Figure 1. Goodnight Moon book cover (2019).

Evaluation of Book

Goodnight Moon is the perfect book to read to a child as they are settling down for the night. The pictures by Clement Hurd combine with the words of Margaret Wise Brown, creating a relaxing story about a little rabbit saying goodnight to his room and all the objects he can see from his bed.

From the first page to the last, Hurd’s illustrations establish the setting of the story. The stars are out, the fire is crackling, and little rabbit lays in bed on the first page. The bright colors imply that all the lights are on in the room. From there, the pages flip between close-ups of key items in the room, shown in black and white, to pages of the whole room that continually gets darker and darker. The passing of time is also shown by the placement of the moon in the windows. As the story begins, the moon is low; however, it rises up as the room gets darker, showing the time it takes little rabbit fall asleep. The clock also moves for each page, letting the reader know that about an hour and ten minutes passes from the first page to the last. Therefore, Hurd used little rabbit’s room for the setting of the nighttime ritual of going to bed.

Another find within the illustrations by Hurd are interesting asides. When looking at the pictures on the wall of the room, the one on the far left can also be found in Runaway Bunny, another story Brown and Hurd wrote together. Also, the outfit of the quiet old lady along with the pajamas of little bunny also appear in the other story. While these details do not add to the story, they delight a child that suddenly realizes that they recognize the items.

Another part of the book that adds to the story, music in language. The story begins “In the great green room” where you find “a red balloon” (p. 1). The following pages continue the lyrical feel through rhyming which adds to the story’s lulling effect of going to sleep. By the end of the story, “goodnight” repeats twenty times, saying goodnight to all things the little rabbit can see from the bed. (Brown, 1991)

Response

Goodnight Moon remains my son’s favorite book after reading it for two and a half years, my reasoning for loving it too. He enjoys breaking down the words, finding everything mentioned in the story on each of the pages, and he figured out that the clothes plus picture on the wall came from Runaway Bunny. Because of his attachment to this book, we read it over and over again. Despite this repetition, I still enjoy reading the book each time. Nothing gets old about it. The pictures moving from black and white to darker shades of color even makes me sleepy. And when I read, “Goodnight noises everywhere,” on the last page, I too am ready for bed. To sum up, because I cherish this book, my goal is to read all books Margaret Wise Brown wrote.

Conclusion

Goodnight Moon wins as a must read for children and their caregivers. The illustrations and musical language entrance the reader and encourage them to want to read it over and over again. Out of four stars, I give this book four.

Citation

Brown, M. W. & Hurd, C. (1991). Goodnight moon. Mexico: Harper Festival.

Willis, C. (2019). Goodnight moon book cover (photo). Retrieved March 15, 2019 from

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hFQhnycP7JTgbdXiTMg_VICG1WJTplT4/view?usp=sharing