This series of books takes the premise of Goodnight Moon and extends it to various destinations throughout North America. Instead of a little bunny wishing good night to the contents of his room, the Good Night Our World books go through a full day in the life of various states and major cities, wishing good morning, good afternoon and finally good night to landmarks, attractions and cultural institutions.
We first learned of the series when friends mentioned Good Night Chicago as required reading for our firstborn. At bedtime we would take a tour through our hometown, from the Shedd Aquarium to the Field Museum, the skyscrapers and public art to the planetarium. The book soon became our go-to gift for newborn locals.
The 6x6" board books are a great celebration of various locales for residents and tourists alike. They are fun reading for families in anticipation of a visit to a new destination or as a reminder of a trip. The series includes titles dedicated to Arizona, Atlanta, Boston, California, Denver, Florida, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Maine, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC.
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We have received "Goodnight Washington D.C." and "Goodnight World" as gifts...our verdict is, it's a cute idea, but could have been much better executed--better written, less cheesy typography, that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
We have "Goodnight Boston" and "Goodnight Cape Cod". Love them both! Great for teaching hometown pride!
I registered and ended my years of lurking just to say that it drives me totally crazy that these books don't rhyme. The whole POINT of Goodnight Moon is that it rhymes, thus lulling to sleep. My husband and I have spent much time trying to make Goodnight Rhode Island rhyme.
Agree with elizarock and gracie - cute idea, but very poor execution, in my opinion. Well, I should say that we've only read the Good Night Hawaii book (received as a gift), so the others might be better? But the one we have could in no way be compared to Good Night Moon.
I agree with several of you: poorly executed. Comic Sans font? Really? Not only is there no rhyming, but the writing is really clunky (who uses the entire name, "Field Museum of Natural History" or calls it the "Historic water tower on the Magnificent Mile" in conversation?).
We have Goodnight Maine. Gift from someone who lives in Maine. We read it because it has a picture of a moose and DS likes mooses but really, really poor execution. Poor quailty illustrations. Clunky clunk text. I would never recommend books from the series. I assume they are only purchased by tourists on vacation.
They have no relationship to Goodnight Moon.
Wow, harsh criticisms! We have Goodnight Denver and my son loves it. I never once actually considered it was supposed to seriously compare (except on the "surface") to the classic Goodnight Moon, but just teach children more about the city they live in (or like to visit). I don't care that it doesn't rhyme and neither does my son. I guess people take their fun books a bit more seriously than we do at my house. We just like that it introduces kids to their surroundings, and if my son likes it, that is good with me.
OK, I'm joining the harsh critics. We got one from a friend, and it was a cute idea and did teach us a little about the landmarks in her state, but as a book, it's awful. The pictures are cheesy and the text is terrible. A good story requires more than a gimmick--simply having a basic theme and throwing some words and pictures on a page does not a story make.
Oh, and I agree they don't have anything to do with Goodnight Moon. Honestly, I don't even think that was the intent.
i'm pretty sure my 2 year old doesn't care about cheesy illustrations, or font. the book is for him..
i also agree that it isn't meant to be a version of Goodnight Moon. inspired by...maybe.
We have Good Night Boston because my daughter's name is Boston (and because we love the city--obviously), but because of that the book was very confusing to her at a young age. She gets it now.
Aside from the name thing, I do agree with the critics here. Good idea. Poor execution.
Children's books are a great way to introduce children to creative and beautiful illustrations. these things look like clip-art. wouldn't waste my money on these.
Honestly I didn't like Goodnight Chicago either. I can't speak for the rest of the series, but the book reads like it was written by looking up the top 10 tourist sites on wikipedia. A much better book about stuff that real Chicagoans actually go to and talk about is "ABC in Chicago." http://www.murrayhillbooks.com/abcinchicago/
Gracie - We have the Rhode Island book too.
And, I have to agree with others who complain that the text is clunky. I often feel completely ridiculous while reading it. But, my daughter (1 year old) seems to really enjoy it so we keep it around and read it often.
We have the Texas and Chicago books, and my son loves them. I don't think they can even begin to compare to the classic book by Margaret Wise Brown, though. Like the other posters have said, the pictures are somewhat rudely drawn and, in the Texas book especially, there are some details that are extremely off. Texans don't eat chili and pecan pie at a Mexican food restaurant.
We have the Chicago book. my son loves reading about his city.
That said...I find it annoying that it starts out "good morning" and they are boating on the lake. then it end with snow on the roof. if this is all in the span of a day (good day, good afternoon, good night), the seasons should stay the same....
I agree with robinm: the Good Night Our World series is not nearly as good as some others. I like 1 2 3 Chicago much more (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3563867&CAWELAID=354916940).
We actually have three of these books. Though, I agree the writing leaves something to be desired, we actually bought them as souvenirs. We have a tradition of purchasing books for our daughter of places she has been and these books are great for highlighting all the tourist stops she visited. She loves reading them and pointing our the things she has seen.
Good Night Washington has pretty poor illustrations. The depictions and skyline weren't even close to realistic and the bookshelves in the library of congress were lined with other copies of their books. not a fan.
So glad I'm not the only one who doesn't care for these -- but good news! Just found a board book, Hello Virginia!, which is FABULOUS! Beautiful illustrations by David Walker which show landmarks and state symbols and introduce opposites, colors, and shapes. (e.g. "Hello Soft Water. [Chesapeake Bay] Hello Hard Crab. [Blue Crab]). I see on amazon that he also illustrated Hello Florida, Hello Texas, and Hello New York City. Hope he'll do more!
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=hello+america+david+walker&ih=6_1_3_1_0_0_0_0_2_1.93_58&fsc=-1