If Animals Kissed Good Night - Hardcover

Paul, Ann Whitford

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374380511 ISBN 13: 9780374380519

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2008

Synopsis

If animals kissed
like we kiss good night,
Giraffe and his calf
would stretch their necks high
and kiss just beneath
the top of the sky.

In a cozy bedtime chat with her mom, a young girl wonders how animal families might say good night. Would Wolf and his pup “kiss and then HOWL”? Would Bear and her cub “kiss and then GROWL”? But what about Sloth and her baby? They move soooo slooowwwww . . . they’re sure to be kissing from early evening until long after everyone else is fast asleep!

With its whimsical art and playful rhymed verse, this affectionate picture book is bound to become a bedtime favorite.

About this title

About the Author

ANN WHITFORD PAUL and DAVID WALKER collaborated on Little Monkey Says Good Night, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, which Kirkus Reviews praised as “a perfect good-night read.” Ms. Paul lives in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Walker lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Reviews

PreS—Lively rhythm, effective sound words, and an eclectic collection of toddler-pleasing animals all combine to create a charming bedtime book. As a child and her mother begin their evening ritual, they wonder about how different animals say good night. Soon parent and baby pairs are hanging or skittering or bathing or howling and growling their nighttime wishes. The vocabulary will enhance the read-aloud experience, e.g., "Mama Penguin and chick would stumble and slide/on slippery rocks in a hug-and-kiss ride." Soon, however, all are "tucked in tight" with the toddler surrounded by the small stuffed versions of the featured animals—all except slow Sloth and her cub. They began kissing on the first spread, and on the last page, they are "still…kissing good night!" It's an ending that's sure to elicit giggles from young listeners. The layout of the art and text adds to the fun as many of the characteristics and action words swirl across the page or pile up on top of each other. Illustrations, done in soft watercolors, range from full-page bleeds to small ovals and feature characters that swing or prance across the white space. The book is similar in approach to Claire Freedman's Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones (Good Bks., 2005) but it has more humor. It should find a place in most collections even if they already have Freedman's book or Dawn Apperley's Good Night, Sleep Tight, Little Bunnies (Scholastic, 2002).—Jane Marino, Bronxville Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A follow-up to Paul and Walker’s other bedtime tome, Little Monkey Says Good Night (2003), this book offers charming, fanciful visions of parents and children of various species preparing for sleep. The examples represent a variety of animals, from pythons and penguins to kangaroos and elephants, with each species accompanied by a rhyme that seems crafted for reading aloud: “Walrus calf and her papa would make whiskery swishes, / rubbing each other in scritch-scratchy kisses.” Paul takes well-known characteristics of each animal and pushes them to wonderfully silly extremes. The sloths, for example, which appear in various spreads throughout the book, are summed up on the last page: “But Sloth and her cub? Still . . . kissing good night!” Likewise, Walker has fun with anthropomorphism. His animals smile widely—even if they are upside down or underwater—and each parent has only one child to handle. Using soft color, Walker renders the nighttime rituals inventively, across pages and around panels, making this gentle book a satisfying bedtime selection. Preschool-Grade 2. --Abby Nolan

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374380511
• ISBN 13: 9780374380519
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Walker David
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32