Preschoolers will get sleepy--very, very sleepy--as they make their way through the darkening, night-falling pages of Goodnight Everyone by Irish designer and illustrator Chris Haughton. His vibrant collage-like illustrations in jewel-toned matte colors are immediately recognizable from his other picture books: Shh! We Have a Plan, Little Owl Lost and Oh No, George!
The sun is setting, and droopy-eyed animals, one by one, make preparations for bed. Mice, hares and deer yawn and stretch... but one wide-eyed bear cub isn't falling in line: "[W]ell, I'm not sleepy," says Little Bear, even though Great Big Bear is clearly on the verge of slumber herself. Little Bear wants to play, but none of the other animals has the energy.
"aren't you tired?" ask the deer
"oh no, no! not even a little bit"
says Little Bear
But young readers with eyes wide open will notice Little Bear's eyes are finally starting to close, too, and soon everyone is snoring and sighing, fast asleep. Mesmerizing, repetitious text ("the mice are sleepy... the hares are sleepy... the deer are sleepy") will have children fighting to swallow their own yawns. Early on, pages of increasing size reveal the widening scene, from tiny mice to massive bears and beyond to the starry sky. Endpapers feature midnight blue constellations--the southern sky at the beginning and the northern sky at the end, highlighting the bear-friendly Ursas Major and Minor, of course!
If Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon doesn't do the trick, Goodnight Everyone will surely send the most stubbornly awake off to slumberland. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor