Good Night Thoughts

K-Gr 2–On a sparkly night, a child snuggles a stuffy and worries over falling asleep. While the moon-bathed surroundings emanate peaceful slumber, inside the child’s mind is a totally different landscape. A world full of scariness and noise bubbles out in bright greens, pinks, and yellows that take the form of robot sharks and the dentist! Greenfield humorously softens bedtime fears: a cluster of tarantulas end up overflowing from a toilet bowl while a worry about a best friend leaving envisions them sailing away on a pirate ship made of French toast. Lucid writing paired with Serafino’s affecting illustrations succinctly present how a mind full of both scary and comforting thoughts can make it difficult to surrender to the rest we need. The story arc triumphantly takes readers from trying to imagine good night thoughts to being able to say “Good night” to our thoughts.