Goodnight Moon

Yes, it’s a classic–but it’s a classic for a reason! I found this book incredibly soothing at bedtime–both for my children and for me! Is it a bit quirky? Yes! Are the illustrations quite dated? Yes! But there’s nothing quite like it for calming and settling at bedtime. Yawn! I’m feeling sleepy already!

Another classic full of nostalgia, I recently found the book's hidden message—there is a clock on each page, and you can watch the time progress as the story goes on. Please note that in the story, bedtime takes a full hour, which makes me feel better about my bedtime process.

Because he is only two, Mommy has to do some guessing here as to why he likes this book so much. His older brother and sister like it, and it is one they have been able to read to him even before he was born.

I believe there is comfort in the rhyme and simplicity of the story, but in a beautiful way that helps him to fall asleep.

This is also one of the first books where we were able to have him be part of the reading experience, so as I read it to him and say, “Goodnight… show more.

At least in the US, once you become a new parent, people will invariably gift you this book, along with "Pat the Bunny", and a plastic giraffe toy. Why? Who knows. They just got all got really popular at some point and have remained so. For what it's worth, this is the most worthy of the three.

I’ve included it in this list mainly to call attention to just how profoundly bizarre it is. To some extent, because it's the second part of a 1940s trilogy set in a surreal universe of bunny people. I appreciate the eerie drawing style… show more.

Goodnight Moon is a timeless classic bedtime story. It’s hard to believe that the book was first published in 1945. The rhyming poem together with the graphically strong, atmospheric illustrations create a beautifully structured book. 

It is a book you finish reading and your eyes will close themselves, and with a smile on your face, you will fall fast asleep.

I read this book to my children every night for years. As I read it then snuggled into my arms and began the sometimes difficult process of falling asleep. The story is calming and is a wonderful way to end a busy day. Very young children will understand this beloved book. 

This is another book that I really didn’t appreciate until it became a bedtime standard in our home. It seemed simple and repetitive at first and I dismissed it. But due to popular demand, I had to read it regularly and soon found that there is a magic to it. It is playful and sweet and as you read it out loud you can’t help falling into the lulling sway of the words as they gently lay your little one down to sleep.

This nursery classic provides exactly what babies deserve in a bedtime story: A lively, inventive text that their parents can read out loud, with intriguing pictures that their parents can talk about. To learn language, babies and toddlers need us to chat with them, ask questions of them (even if they’re too small to reply), and show them things and explain what they are seeing. A clever parent will not only read Margaret Wise Brown’s rhyming story about a little rabbit going to sleep “in the great green room,” but also engage in playful and informal chitchat about Clement Hurd’s… show more.