GOODNIGHT GOODNIGHT SLEEPYHEAD

Krauss’s blatant variation on Goodnight Moon, originally published as Eyes, Nose, Fingers, Toes (1964) with illustrations by Elizabeth Schneider, gets an intimate remake thanks to Dyer’s gentle sleepy-time scenes of a chubby, rosebud-lipped toddler surrounded by plush companions—each of which (child included) gets put to bed to a rhythmic litany: “Goodnight windows / Goodnight doors / Goodnight walls / Goodnight floors.” A dinosaur toy provides the only bit of updating here; otherwise the art is as time-unspecific as the text. Dyer’s illustrations are typically in an oversized format, each double-paged spread on 10 x 10 pages, a different pastel background on each, allowing the full effect of her soft colors to envelope the reader. Often the plush animal takes up the entire two pages. Then, when she gets to the walls, windows, and doors, she reverts to one page for each, setting the scene against stark white backgrounds, and coming back to the pastel for the closing shot of mother and child. Short, sweet—and comfortably familiar. (Picture book. 3-5)