Goodnight Moon

Whenever you talk about children's picture books, inevitably this title comes up.  Most of the establishment speaks of Margaret Wise Brown's signature work with glowing praise or at least some sort of respect.  Well, the time has come to right this wrong (one that has persisted for sixty-plus years).  And I'm just the guy to do it.  

THREE PROS
*My mother-in-law thinks it's a good quiet-time book that helps your kid understand the power of observation
*The reference to other nursery rhymes in the room's artwork should actually challenge the neurons in your brain to do something, unlike the rest of this mush (which, not coincidentally, is one of the items in the room)
*The little bunny has at least two clocks, which some might consider excessive for a young lad but I applaud since punctuality is very important to me

THREE CONS 
*Behold, there is a copy of Goodnight Moon on the bunny's bedside table -- how self-serving
*There is a page that literally says "Goodnight nobody" -- what the heck is that
*Enough with the old lady saying "hush" -- nobody likes people who ssssh you and very few like it when old busybodies watch them go to sleep

ONE DAD'S OPINION
The back cover mentions that this is "Everyone's favorite bedtime book."  It is not.  This thing is a piece of junk.  Every other bedtime book I have reviewed on this website is better, and it's not even close.  C'mon, the bunny in the book doesn't even use it at bedtime; he's busy saying goodnight to every random thing in his view while his old caregiver chooses knitting and chiding over picking the book up. Nothing actually happens in Goodnight Moon.  Just some rhyming for rhyming's sake.  Promise me you won't fall for this trap, despite your mom, your friends, and other websites trying to push it on you.       

Buy / Borrow / Donate / DESTROY


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I can understand your views as a father-reviewer, a female view might explain the long lived success of this book. Fathers want action and women might prefer the calming, sweet nature of this classic. A child who is afraid of the dark of or noises or of shadows in their room would find this story a wonderful way to end their fears.

Anonymous said...

i whole heartedly agree with the bloggers sentiments! they did make me wonder about who this margaret wise brown woman is/was, and WOW- what a story! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Wise_Brown

Anonymous said...

I am a mom that used to read the "GOODNIGHT MOON" to my children. My oldest daughter loved it and would say the words before I actually got to read them and we would quote the book back at bedtime...being silly (she is now a child/teen that hates to read & never seem to develop the love of reading), my next daughter came along and I read it to her and she was not fazed or impressed with the book(she is now 12 and reads 2 to 3 books that are aproximately 1 inch++ thick PER WEEK/LOVES TO READ), and my son got irritated and thought it was stupid and senseless.....I would not have ever purchased this book myself; however, I received it from my sister-in-law as a gift for my child and she later purchased the game for the kids....They refused to have anything to do with the game...When reading this the first time, I have thought many of times that if this book can be published, then maybe I need to write and publish a few myself.

mysteryguy said...

Excellent input from these three readers. That Wiki page, if 100% true, is worthy of a movie.

And I love when my readers agree with me how easy it seems to write one of these. Even if it's a bad one, it doesn't seem to matter...

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