Goodnight Moon is a classic and well-loved American children’s picture book from 1947. It was written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. Many American adults remember it as their favourite bedtime story, and it continues to lull young children to sleep to this very day. Brown continued auditioning many other drafts. Studying the opinions and physical responses that her stories elicited made her feel like a literary detective; she called the exercise chasing “leads.” She later declared that children were the true authors of many of her books: she was “merely an ear and a pen.” a b c Kois, Dan (January 13, 2020). "How One Librarian Tried to Squash Goodnight Moon". Slate Magazine . Retrieved January 14, 2020.

Have you ever noticed all of the different shades of the moon? Take a moment to look at the moon with your child and then create this easy fingerprint moon craft. The first episode of the Warner Bros. animated television series Animaniacs included a spoof of Goodnight Moon named "Nighty-Night Toon". [32] a b Leanne Barrett (January 25, 2019). "Review: Goodnight Moon". Kids' Book Review. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Goodnight Moon may now seem like such a simple book, but it was once considered unconventional, as was Brown's entire philosophy of writing for children (along with others at the Writers Lab). Instead of fables and fairy tales, Brown focused on the familiar, everyday sights and sounds in a child's life. From the "puff, puff, puff and chug, chug, chug" of a train and a mother's "hush" to wishing objects goodnight and noting what is "important" about things, she blazed a trail for a new type of writing for children.In the Writers Lab, Brown worked alongside a number of women who went on to publish children’s books, including Edith Thacher, with whom Brown eventually collaborated on “ Five Little Firemen,” published in 1948. The book was imbued with the Here and Now movement’s respect for ordinary things: when a house fire starts, each member of the family inside retrieves something beloved—a pet, a few flowers—before rushing out. Robin Bernstein, "'You Do it!': Going-to-Bed Books and the Scripts of Children's Literature," PMLA, Volume 135 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. 877 - 894 In this classic of children's literature, beloved by generations of readers and listeners, the quiet poetry of the words and the gentle, lulling illustrations combine to make a perfect book for the end of the day. Goodnight, Moon is the chilling portrayal of a small child (represented, oddly enough, by a rabbit), listing the things in their bedroom and then saying goonight to them, one by one. This goodnight moon activity is great for your child to play with while you read the book at bedtime. And a fun way to use a book to work on fine motor skills and make memories together.

Ephemera, Uncommon (1984). "Sound Filmstrip: "Goodnight Moon" (Weston Woods Studios #298, 1984)". Internet Archive . Retrieved December 25, 2022. One of Bank Street's early ground-breaking revelations in children's speech patterns was Mitchell's observation that "communication is not the earliest impulse that leads to the use of language." Instead, young kids were more interested in the "rhythm, sound quality and patterns of sound." Brown certainly understood this fact. Her work at the Bank Street Writers Laboratory showed a particular flair for rhythmic language that she would later use to hypnotic effect in Goodnight Moon. “Probably she has the most consistent and genuine interest in language of the group, perhaps of all our students. Her product, though slight, always shows sensitivity to form, sound and rhythm,” Mitchell wrote in one evaluation. 2. Goodnight Moon represented a new kind of children's literature: The "here-and-now."Brown’s papers are kept at Hollins University and at the Westerly Library, in Rhode Island. Letters and diaries written during her early adulthood in New York have a giddy energy. As she ages, she doesn’t lose her exuberance, but she becomes darker. In a series of letters to a female lover, she appears to threaten suicide. In a diary entry, she recounts a string of nightmares. Snippets of some of her unpublished work make the story of the dead bird feel tame: kittens are crushed in the hands of inattentive children; mice plummet to their death from the talons of raptors in flight.