Looking for that quintessential bedtime story that your little one will listen to every single night before going to bed? These books have gentle, rhythmic text, sweet illustrations, and timeless themes about bedtime and sleep.
Sylvia Long’s lovely new version of the classic lullaby Hush Little Baby
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Each beautiful page of Time for Bed shows a mother baby and her animal preparing for bed. We love the gorgeous illustrations in this soothing book.
In Baby’s Boat, an adorable little boy
In Little Donkey Close Your Eyes, animal mothers urge their babies to close their eyes in this simple, calming poem by beloved author Margaret Wise Brown.
A soothing poem about falling asleep by Eric Metaxas is complemented by Nancy Tillman’s gorgeous illustrations in It’s Time to Sleep, My Love
In The Sleep Ponies
Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
Bear Can’t Sleep
Goodnight Moon
Donald and his rabbit both can’t sleep! Donald begins to emphasize with his mother as he keeps trying to settle down his rambunctious rabbit friend in Are You Asleep, Rabbit?
In this gorgeously illustrated bedtime story, a little boy asks his dad how each animal on the farm goes to sleep. I love the patient, sleepy dad and the curious boy in Going to Sleep on the Farm
This was a lovely list and I’m definitely looking into getting a few, but I’m quite surprised that you would recommend Good Night Moon. Not only is the book overly simplistic to the point of saying “Good night Nobody” but the illustrations aren’t all that engaging let alone in the ‘beautiful’ category. We ended up tossing the book, we disliked reading it that much.
There is definitely room for a variety of reactions to Good Night Moon. Each of my kids thoroughly enjoyed that book, and its simplicity seemed to really calm them down at the end of a busy day.
I didn’t like Good Night Moon at first either but my children have always loved the rhymes and I’ve noticed that they are fascinated with how the room slowly gets darker and darker. They also love how the lights come on in the toy house at the end, the kittens move about the room and the moon rises through the window. I think the book is understated and that’s why it initially goes over our heads but is often loved by children. That being said, everyone has their preferences. There’s so many wonderful books out there, we don’t have to love them all!
Hello! May I submit my children’s book for consideration in a future list? It is “God Made the Moonlight,” a journey story from the city to the country, where a young girl appreciates the changing moon over a summer with her grandparents. My book just received the Catholic Writer’s Guild Seal of Approval. Let me know if you would like to read a pdf copy. Thanks!
Send me an email via my contact page and we can talk!
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