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GOODNIGHT BOB

Name: GOODNIGHT BOB
Author: Ann Hassett
ISBN: 978-0-8075-3003-0

by Ann Hassett & John Hassett ; illustrated by John Hassett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2016

A sweetly simple bedtime book with a reassuring message.

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A young child’s bedtime anxiety is quelled as familiar friends take turns saying goodnight.

Tucked in bed with a flashlight, Bob looks out the window to a crescent Moon, who smiles down and says, “Goodnight Bob.” Alone in the dark, Bob sees two round, white eyes glow, and when he shines his flashlight, Fish appears in his bowl and also says goodnight. This pattern repeats as each successive pair of white eyes in the dark turns into a cat, dog, mouse, Bigfoot (outside the window), and the stars in the night sky. The simple, predictable text will have children chiming in quickly: “Bob saw two eyes. / It was Dog. ‘Goodnight Bob,’ said Dog. / Bob saw two eyes. / It was Mouse. ‘Goodnight Bob,’ said Mouse.” Finally settled in and with eyes closed, Bob is asleep as the moon and stars give another goodbye and the footprints of Bigfoot recede down the path from the house. The simplicity of this repetitive story is accentuated by the primitive cartoonish pastel drawings in primary colors. Bob is a very young Charlie Brown–type figure with light skin, two dotted eyes, a circle nose, and four bristly lines for hair atop his very round head. Bold white text against a dark blue nocturnal background facilitates repeat reads.

A sweetly simple bedtime book with a reassuring message. (Picture book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8075-3003-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL

- BOOK REVIEW
BOB'S ROCK
by Ann Hassett & John Hassett ; illustrated by Ann Hassett & John Hassett

- BOOK REVIEW
COME BACK, BEN
by Ann Hassett ; John Hassett ; illustrated by Ann Hassett ; John Hassett

- BOOK REVIEW
TOO MANY FROGS!
by Ann Hassett & John Hassett & illustrated by John Hassett

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THE GOOD MORNING BOOK

by Lori Joy Smith ; illustrated by Lori Joy Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2017

This book may well have some families greeting the day with a cheerful “oobie doobie,” and there’s nothing wrong with that.

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A companion to Smith’s The Goodnight Book (2014) has readers saying good morning in various languages.

A little white girl dressed in yellow raincoat and boots begins with the English “Good morning,” followed by a brown-skinned boy greeting a cat with a cheery, Italian “Buongiorno.” Turn the page, and a little Japanese girl greets her kitty with “Ohayou.” All this seems ordinary until the next page reveals some less-conventional greetings, with a series of silly sounds reflecting a variety of imaginative languages pronounced by an assortment of playfully unusual creatures. “But in some far off places they say… / ‘Guden Tooka.’ ” Talking flowers and strange yet oddly familiar-looking animals will say their versions of good morning, with “Halaa,” “Mest wishes,” or “Good nuggen” all sounding slightly different from the norm. A final page shows a rising sun asking, “How do YOU say GOOD MORNING?” The cheery, painterly illustrations add to the playful tone with smiling, hairy monsters, happy rocks, or anthropomorphic rabbits or bears offering their daily greetings. Little kids often play silly sound games with their own inventive versions, and they might find this inspiring as they develop their language skills and maybe even have their ears tuned to some more traditional foreign tongues.

This book may well have some families greeting the day with a cheerful “oobie doobie,” and there’s nothing wrong with that. (Picture book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-772290-04-2

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Simply Read

Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL

- BOOK REVIEW
I AM A PEACEFUL GOLDFISH
by Shoshana Chaim ; illustrated by Lori Joy Smith

- BOOK REVIEW
WE ADOPTED A BABY LAMB
by Lori Joy Smith ; illustrated by Lori Joy Smith

- BOOK REVIEW
I LOVE YOU LIKE …
by Lori Joy Smith ; illustrated by Lori Joy Smith

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GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE MONSTERS

by Kara LaReau ; illustrated by Brian Won ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 26, 2018

What better way to deal with baby monsters than to tuck them safely into bed? Little monsters will try to put off the...

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A board book for older toddlers who like pretending to be just a little bit scared.

Young children will recognize themselves and their bedtime routines in the four-line rhymes that appear on verso, describing spread by spread eight monsters that they may soon meet in more menacing contexts. On the facing page, graphically designed toddler versions of each monster exhibit their defining characteristics. A square-headed “Frankenbaby” with bolts in his neck wears training pants, while a green zombie baby in a high chair has taken a bite out of the head of a gingerbread boy. An equally green adult zombie proffers a sippy cup. Similarly, a vampire girl hanging upside down from a shower-curtain rod is offered a pink toothbrush for her fangs. A small mummy brings a pile of books on outstretched arms to mama mummy for a “bed-tomb story.” “Loch Nessie,” “wolfboy,” “little Bigfoot,” and a pair of purple “gleeful goblins” round out the cast. The final pages show all the monsters in silhouette under a full yellow moon as they march off to bed in a backyard tent.

What better way to deal with baby monsters than to tuck them safely into bed? Little monsters will try to put off the inevitable bedtime with the demand, “read it again.” (Board book. 2-4)