Goodnight Moon

A young rabbit lies in bed in a great green room, and bedtime has come. He says goodnight to the things around him, one at a time: a telephone, a red balloon, two kittens, a pair of mittens, a toyhouse, a young mouse. A comb, a brush and a bowl of mush get their turn too. A quiet old lady sits nearby, whispering hush.

This is a picture book in rhyme, written as a short litany with no plot. Nothing happens except the coming of night, and that is the whole design. Wall pictures of a cow jumping over the moon and of three little bears on chairs are among the objects he greets.

Clement Hurd's illustrations keep to one scene. The same room is drawn over and over while the lamps dim and the colours deepen, and the clock on the mantel marks the hour before sleep. Full-colour spreads alternate with quieter black-and-white pages, so the pace slows as the book goes on.

Harper and Brothers first published it in 1947, and it has stayed in print ever since. The steady, repeated naming of familiar things suits the end of the day, and it is a book made to be read aloud to a child at bedtime.