View source for It's Time to Say Goodnight by Harriet Ziefert and Barroux

{{infobox2
|title=It's Time to Say Goodnight
|author=Harriet Ziefert and Barroux
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1609053741
|pages=36
|publisher=Blue Apple Books
|date=November 2013
|aznuk=1609053745
|aznus=1609053745
|cover=1609053745
|summary=Simple and sweet.  If you just want something uncomplicated to breeze through at bedtime this will fit the bill!
}}
When a little boy wakes up happy and decides to say 'Good morning' to everything he sees he probably doesn't realise the task he has set himself.  Indeed, after saying 'Good morning' to twenty-plus things around him it seems it's now time to say 'Good night'!

Written in rhyme this is a very simple book that takes us through a little boy's day of greeting the items and animals around him.  He says 'Good morning' to the sun, to the hills and the grass.  He finds a variety of animals to greet, as he seems to live on a farm, before scooting into town and greeting the vehicles he sees there.  When he's finished and it's turning towards night time he begins to say Good Night in reverse, so if you have a little one with particularly good recall they will be able to call out the 'Good Night' before you!

I have to admit I wasn't overly enamoured with the words in the book.  The rhymes are basic, but at least they don't jar horribly, but I just found that I wasn't particularly engaged.  I much preferred the pictures and, really, it's the pictures that tell the story here because at each moment that he's saying good morning or good night we are seeing him engaging in an activity.  He has little truck that he pulls along behind him as he walks through the farm greeting the animals.  There's a lovely double page of pictures where on one side he's lying in the grass, leaning his head on one hand, just enjoying lying on the grass.  I was instantly transported to happy summer memories of lying on luscious, green grass in the sunshine and the fresh smell and feel of the grass.  On the page opposite he's now climbed a tree and is greeting a bird up in the branches.  Both are very sweet pictures.

We see him growing some seeds in the ground, and zooming by on his scooter.  As he says good night to the animals he is scooting back past them and they are all lying in the fields or cosy in the tree, fast asleep.  In the final image the little boy himself is tucked up, cosy and warm, in his bed, a wonderful satisfied smile on his little face.  His mum is at the doorway, turning off the light, and if we look around the room he's lying in we start to see suggestions of all the things he said good morning and good night to in his room.

I wouldn't say this is a particularly special book, except perhaps that the illustrations are rather sweet.  There's nothing particularly wrong with it however, and it does work very well as a quiet, gently winding down book for bedtime as there is nothing to get excited about and the final good night's can get softer and softer as you reach the end.  I would probably recommend borrowing this first, to give it a try and see how it goes down.  Older toddlers may tire of it fairly quickly, but younger ones should enjoy the repetition for some time.

For more bedtime reads try [[It's Time For Bed by Adele Geras and Sophy Williams]] or [[Where's My Cuddle? by James Mayhew]]

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[[Category:Harriet Ziefert]]
[[Category:Barroux]]