As the pages are turned and the simplest of poems unfolds in casually rhymed lines, pictures of the cow jumping over the moon and of the three little bears are given their due, as are kittens and mittens and toyhouse and mouse, and the quiet old lady in the rocking chair whispering “hush.” The contents of the room are enumerated, and then each element is bid goodnight in the simplest, sweetest evocation of a toddler’s surrender to sleep that any reader is likely to find. Brown’s conception is flawless, Clement Hurd’s pictures are friendly and bright (till the lights go out!). Together they make a perfect bedtime tale: comforting, familiar, and possessed of a magic that never loses its charm—no matter how many times a parent is asked to read it again.
This was one of the first books that my mother read to me, and it was the first book that I read to my son. I hope that I am one day able to read it to my grandchild. It is beautiful, calm and timeless
The first time I read it to my daughter, I thought, is this it? But I was thinking like an adult. It is so simple and sweet and reassuring that it is a perfect end to a day of discovery.
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