Good-Night, Owl!

Good-Night, Owl!
by Pat Hutchins

Ages 1 - 4
Publisher: Aladdin

As the dawn breaks, an owl tries to settle in for his sleep.

But, one by one, the creatures stir and call in their own unique voices preparing for the bright and busy day. Can the poor owl get any sleep?

The repetitive animal noises, the addition of one new animal on each page with cumulative calls of these animals, the eye-catching illustrations all seem to have impressed the resident toddler. Rat-a-tat, Rat-a-tat says the woodpecker. Pip-pip says the robin. Caw, Caw says the crow. And so on.

And, in the end, Owl turns the table on these noisy, bothersome creatures: he screeches his loudest as he takes off for his nocturnal hunt, just as the rest of the animals are settling in for a quiet night.

We've been reading about nocturnal creatures on and off over the last year or so. Oggie probably understands that some creatures are awake at night and sleep during daytime, unlike us. Forest Night, Forest Bright (Jennifer Ward) shows this beautifully.

I loved the illustrations by Pat Hutchins, they are full of detail. Well defined shapes with distinctive color, along with the dots and lines and repetitive patterns that add interest make the illustrations quite inspiring.

The simple text that tells a cumulative story along with the attractive art work made this book an enjoyable read for me. And judging by repeat reads at bedtime for over a week, it seems like a favorite with Oggie as well.

[image source: paperbackswap.com]