Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
Beyond Goodnight Moon: Favorite Bedtime Books
Recently we have expanded Ben's bedtime ritual or include two stories. He tends to fixate on a book for about a week, and then move on to different ones. (I'll be happy when he gets tired of Clifford.) Here are some of my favorites:
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, by Mo Willems. In this sequel to Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, toddlers can argue with the pigeon, who pleads for the chance to stay up past his bedtime. This book is great for dealing with bedtime resistance, since the pigeon expresses what every toddler is thinking--or shouting--already. One caveat: the pigeon's histrionics will probably not make children drowsy.
Little Monster's Bedtime Book, by Mercer Mayer. Now out of print, this bedtime book from my childhood follows Little Monster through the land of fantastical creatures such as the enormous Whizzle, the grumpy Peevish, and the huffing Typhoonigator. Mercer Mayer's illustrations give kids lots of detail to look at, and the silly rhymes will entertain parents as well.
The Going to Bed Book, by Sandra Boynton. This book was part of Ben's bedtime routine every night when he was little. The comical illustrations and simple story show a group of animals getting ready to go to bed. At first the rhythm moves quickly, but it slows down at the end as the animals rock to sleep on their houseboat.
Time for Bed, by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer. This gorgeously-illustrated book shows animal parents and offspring getting ready to sleep. The pictures and lulling text are perfect for soothing a restless child.
If You Were My Bunny, by Kate McMullan, illustrated by David McPhail. Again, this book shows animal parents and offspring preparing to sleep. It begins, "If you were my bunny, and I were your mama, I'd pick you out from all the other bunnies and nestle you beside me...." The poems for each animal can be sung to children's lullabies; it's a perfect book for mothers to read with their children. By the time I get to the last page--"If you were my baby and I were your mama..."--Ben is usually calm and resting against me.
I'm interested to hear from my readers: Are there books you enjoy reading with your children at bedtime? Are there stories you remember fondly from your childhood?
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, by Mo Willems. In this sequel to Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, toddlers can argue with the pigeon, who pleads for the chance to stay up past his bedtime. This book is great for dealing with bedtime resistance, since the pigeon expresses what every toddler is thinking--or shouting--already. One caveat: the pigeon's histrionics will probably not make children drowsy.
Little Monster's Bedtime Book, by Mercer Mayer. Now out of print, this bedtime book from my childhood follows Little Monster through the land of fantastical creatures such as the enormous Whizzle, the grumpy Peevish, and the huffing Typhoonigator. Mercer Mayer's illustrations give kids lots of detail to look at, and the silly rhymes will entertain parents as well.
The Going to Bed Book, by Sandra Boynton. This book was part of Ben's bedtime routine every night when he was little. The comical illustrations and simple story show a group of animals getting ready to go to bed. At first the rhythm moves quickly, but it slows down at the end as the animals rock to sleep on their houseboat.
Time for Bed, by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer. This gorgeously-illustrated book shows animal parents and offspring getting ready to sleep. The pictures and lulling text are perfect for soothing a restless child.
If You Were My Bunny, by Kate McMullan, illustrated by David McPhail. Again, this book shows animal parents and offspring preparing to sleep. It begins, "If you were my bunny, and I were your mama, I'd pick you out from all the other bunnies and nestle you beside me...." The poems for each animal can be sung to children's lullabies; it's a perfect book for mothers to read with their children. By the time I get to the last page--"If you were my baby and I were your mama..."--Ben is usually calm and resting against me.
I'm interested to hear from my readers: Are there books you enjoy reading with your children at bedtime? Are there stories you remember fondly from your childhood?
posted by Tess | 5:42 PM
4 Comments:
The Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss drove my mom nuts as a kid because my brother and I liked it so much. The girls really like Eight Animals on the Town by Susan Middleton Elya. It is partly in Spanish and finishes with the animals driving home and saying good night (and buenas noches). Bunny Day by Rick Walton is a current repeat read from the library. Quality, both.
Runaway Bunny is a Wise Brown / Hurd collaboration that I like even better than Goodnight Moon. You get:
1. If..then reasoning
2. Lovely metaphors
3. Expressions of love by mother for child expressing the need for independence.
I think it's fair to say it works on many levels. My daughter (now almost 9) and I enjoyed this book during her toddler and preschool years.
Maybe they're outdated, but we collected and read the entire set of the Berenstain Bears books when the manboys were little. They had a book for every topic--going to the doctor, moving, having a new sibling, etc.
And one of my all time favorites is "Oh, the Places You'll Go", though I'm not a big Suess fan in general.
Hh
I started the same ritual of two books at bedtime when My 17 yr old was little. It makes all the difference in the world in how much they love reading.
Most of the books we read are not stereotypical "nighttime books". Just books they pick out to be read that particular night.
I acquired most of my children's books when Hannah was young. A lot of the books that were her favorites, are now Misty and Bethany's favorites.
The first is actually a series of books. (I can't figure out the html to make it underline.. grrr)
"My First Steps to Reading" is a series of books by Jane Belk Moncure. With ingenius titles such as "My "t" book", "My "r" Book", etc.. each story is centered around little abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy or z, and them filling their box full of items starting with that letter.
Dr Seuss's "Hop on Pop", "The Foot Book",and "Cat in the Hat".
Walt Disney's "Cinderella".
Lastly, the girl's all time favorite "Golly Gump Swallowed a Fly", by Joanna Cole.
Golly gump swallows a fly while yawning at the very beginning of the story, and continues swallowing different predators trying to rid himself of the previous.
Wow.. I may want to rethink reading that one nightly.
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