Goodnight Moon
- This article is about the children's book, Goodnight Moon. For the Shivaree song, see Goodnight Moon (song).
Goodnight Moon is a children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was first published in 1947, and is a highly acclaimed example of a bedtime story. The content depicts the process of a little one saying goodnight to everything around: "Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon. Goodnight light, and the red balloon..."
Goodnight Moon is considered a classic in children's literature. The book is a poem, written in a simple rhyme form. It contains illustrations of many objects familiar to a child, including a recurring mouse. Part of the activity of reading this book is identifying these objects in the illustrations. As the book progresses, the room depicted gets continuously darker, the moon rises higher in the sky, and the time on the clock gets later.
Readers familiar with Wise Brown's other works may notice that on the fifth spread, one of the paintings on the wall is actually a drawing from The Runaway Bunny. There is also a copy of The Runaway Bunny on the bookshelf and a copy of Goodnight Moon on the nightstand.
It is published in a board book edition, a book whose pages are actually stiff cardboard to make it suitable to give to a very young child. It is also published in a "jumbo" edition, suitable for use with large groups.
In 2005, publisher HarperCollins digitally altered the photograph of Hurd, which had been on the book for at least twenty years, to remove a cigarette.[1] Kate Jackson, editor in chief for children's books, said "It is potentially a harmful message to very young kids." HarperCollins had the reluctant permission of Hurd's son, Thacher Hurd, but the younger Hurd said the photo of Hurd with his arm and fingers extended, holding nothing, "looks slightly absurd to me." [2] HarperCollins has said it will likely replace the picture with a different, unaltered photo of Hurd in future editions. In response, a satirical article demanded the removal of other potentially dangerous objects in the book, such as the fireplace and balloon (a choke hazard for young children). [3]
References in popular culture
In episode 1 of Animaniacs, there is a parodical segment Nighty-night Toon, which begins "In the water tower room There was a log flume And a picture of a baboon..." This is an obvious reference to the simple and often silly rhymes in Goodnight Moon. Instead of "a quiet old lady whispering hush" (in the illustrations in the book, the lady is a rabbit), there is "an old squirrel lady in cap and nightgown" saying "Hey pal, pipe down!".
In an episode of The Simpsons, Christopher Walken is shown at a book fair reading the book to a group of increasingly frightened children, who recoil despite his pleas for them not to.
In season 3 of Family Guy, the episode Screwed the Pooch reveals that Stewie's favourite book is Goodnight Moon.
The Berkeley Breathed book Goodnight Opus, in itself an homage to Goodnight Moon, starts off with the main character, Opus the Penguin being read Goodnight Moon by a maternal nanny figure while he sits in bed in his pink pajamas. After the nanny falls asleep while reading, Opus goes on his own journey to say goodnight to all sorts of fanciful beings and animals.
In the 1990 movie, The Exorcist III, a reference was made to "Goodnight Moon" by the catatonic man in cell 11, (also known as the Gemini Killer), was heard saying "Goodnight moon, Goodnight stars, Goodnight Amy..." referring to the nurse "Amy" that worked at the hospital where he was kept, implying that she was his next victim.
In the 1998 movie Playing By Heart, Ellen Burstyn's character Mildred is keeping vigil with her dying son, Mark played by Jay Mohr. Jay's character asks Ellen's character to read Goodnight Moon as he regresses into his childhood before dying.
In 1999, HBO released "Good Night Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales", a set of animations mixed with vignettes of children talking about sleeping and dreaming. Goodnight Moon is the first story and is revisited again at the end of the 30 minute special.
In the comic strip Zits by Jim Borgman and Jerry Scott, an entire strip is devoted to a parody of "Goodnight Moon," called "Good Night Dude" and featured in the Zits compilation, Zits Supersized: A Zits Treasury.
References
- REDIRECT Insert text