Goodnight Moon, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurt is a great example of a predictable book. With a title like, Goodnight Moon, it is pretty obvious that the book is about saying goodnight before going to bed. What makes a book predictable is that is has repeated language, story patterns and other familiar sequencing. The book, Goodnight Moon, repeatedly uses the phrase of "Goodnight .... " the children know that the beginning of every sentence will be saying Goodnight to someone or something. Rhyming also plays a major role in predictable books. I think rhyming makes predictable books easier and more interesting to read. These books are also great for beginner readers because they are easy and fun to read.
There is no main character in this book, but there is a baby bunny and an old lady bunny. The baby bunny is most likely the narrator of the story. He is saying goodnight to everything including the moon, his great green room, his red balloon, his picture of a cow jumping over the moon, his kittens and mittens, his little toy house and a young mouse and so on. After he is finished saying goodnight to everyone and everything it is finally time to go to sleep.
This is a great book to read to a child before going to sleep but it can also be read at school before nap time. As parents you can have your child say goodnight to the things in their room. As a teacher, you can have your students either have a discussion about the things they would say goodnight to or if they can write, have them make a list. After they make a list they can share with the rest of the class what things the wrote down that they would say goodnight too.
Goodnight Moon slowly became a bestseller. Annual sales grew from about 1,500 copies in 1953 to 20,000 in 1970; and by 1990, the total number of copies sold was more than 4 million
Brown, Margaret Wise. Goodnight Moon. Printed in USA: Harper and Row Publishers Inc., 1947
Link to 2 1/2 year old reading Goodnight Moon on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTMjrnkxKg8
I really liked your review of this book becuase you hit different points throughout the text. I reviewed this book as well and did not really notice the repetative language and its benifit for children understanding the meaning and use of the word goodnight. The pictures you add to each blog also make them more apealing to look at. Good job!
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