In the Great Green Room..

What is it about Goodnight Moon? We recently pulled it off the bookshelf to add to our naptime/bedtime repertoire and it is simply magic. Joshua, who usually makes it through about two pages of a book before repeating, "Gook, gook, gook" and straining over the edge of the chair to see what else is available, is absolutely captivated. He stops wiggling, he leans back into my arm, and I can feel his body get heavier and heavier. Yesterday the unthinkable happened...I flipped back to the front to start over again for the third time. He shook his head 'no' and turned around to crawl up on my shoulder, a no-brainer sign that it's time to go to sleep. This from the kid who hasn't figured out how to stop moving.

Is it the alternation between the red/green color pictures and the black/white pictures? Is it the alternation between the panoramic bedroom pictures and the small pictures of the items in the room? Is there actually ether in the pages that is released as the pages turn?

I don't know, but Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd are my heroes.
Email Post

Comments

Anonymous said…
I don't remember reading that book when I was little, so I never thought much about it before I had Tyler. If fact, I really didn't like it. Then I started reading it to him and the same magic you described happened to us as well. I now have the entire book memorized.

"In the great green room there is a telephone, a red balloon and..."
March 09, 2007 11:28 AM
Anonymous said…
When Lauren itty bitty she was (and, I might mention, she still is) a worm on hot sand. That book put a spell on her. She too had it memorized and reading it with her was like doing some sort of meditation or prayer. It *is* magic!
March 09, 2007 11:37 AM
Jennifer said…
Would you believe I've never read this book? Do you think it's too late for Noelle to fall under its spell?
March 09, 2007 1:06 PM
Mary Beth said…
It's not too late. When I was reading it to Joshua before naptime today I started to yawn after the fourth time through. I think I'm going to have a nap now.
March 09, 2007 1:16 PM
Ruth said…
An absolutely fantastic book - it settled my darling daughter to sleep for many a long month! It was her first favourite and she still loves it.
March 10, 2007 6:22 AM
gavin richardson said…
i don't remember being read the book as a kid.. but then again, i don't remember much of my early childhood, but i loved reading it to kids when i did early child education.

i especially like the board book for infants with the black and white pages. the high contrast is something they can actually focus on.
March 12, 2007 12:23 PM
Mercedes said…
I know that I was not read it as a kid, but, it has the same effect on Drew Caleb. It seems to be the rhythm of the words -- which almost all are basic words that kids learn first (e.g., balloon, cow, moon, stars, brush, etc.). I say it is the rhythm because we can recite it to Drew with good effect without the book. Glad you discovered it. Drew likes to hear it three times on average. :-)
March 12, 2007 3:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts