If Animals Kissed Good Night by Ann Whitford Paul, David Walker (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

If animals kissed
like we kiss good night,
Giraffe and his calf
would stretch their necks high
and kiss just beneath
the top of the sky.

In a cozy bedtime chat with her mom, a young girl wonders how animal families might say good night. Would Wolf and his pup “kiss and then HOWL”? Would Bear and her cub “kiss and then GROWL”? But what about Sloth and her baby? They move soooo slooowwwww . . . they're sure to be kissing from early evening until long after everyone else is fast asleep!

With its whimsical art and playful rhymed verse, this affectionate picture book is bound to become a bedtime favorite.

Publishers Weekly

There are probably not enough synonyms for "cute" to cover this survey of hypothetical smooches between animal parents and offspring-not that there's anything wrong with that. Paul (Mañana, Iguana) notes that the book was inspired by a game she played with her youngest son, and her text exudes the affectionate silliness of a beloved bedtime ritual, complete with nonsense sounds (a parrot and chick's beak-to-beak buss is "klick-a-klack, klick-a-klack, klick-a-klack, kleek"). Walker (previously paired with Paul for Little Monkey Says Good Night) gets great emotional mileage from his rounded, stuffed toy-like shapes, velvety colors, and tiny dot eyes; the characters radiate unconditional love. There's a lot to go "Ahhhh" over (the lumpy posteriors of Papa Rhino and his calf are particularly endearing), but the most winning of the vignettes also serves as the book's running joke: the slo-mo kiss between a mama sloth and her cub. As they hang upside-down from a tree, in absolutely no hurry to part, their embrace is like the Energizer Bunny-it keeps going and going and going. Ages 3-6. (Apr.)

Children's Literature

This book offers a rhyming answer to the question—If animals kissed good night, what would they do, and how would each animal and their parent behave as a result? All of the animals illustrated are compared with a swinging sloth and her cub. Plenty of repetition and simple illustrations depict the animals kissing and making other sounds as they play and move around outside. Toward the end of the book, night descends and the stars come out. Even the toddler pictured is seen tucked into bed inside his room, as the familiar sloth and her cub are kissing good night out in the night. This is a gentle text with a chalk-like wash of colors should please young lookers and listeners before nap or sleeping time. The author previously wrote a Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year which was illustrated by this same artist. Getting ready for bed has never seemed so comfortable and loving. Reviewer: Enid Portnoy

School Library Journal

PreS- Lively rhythm, effective sound words, and an eclectic collection of toddler-pleasing animals all combine to create a charming bedtime book. As a child and her mother begin their evening ritual, they wonder about how different animals say good night. Soon parent and baby pairs are hanging or skittering or bathing or howling and growling their nighttime wishes. The vocabulary will enhance the read-aloud experience, e.g., "Mama Penguin and chick would stumble and slide/on slippery rocks in a hug-and-kiss ride." Soon, however, all are "tucked in tight" with the toddler surrounded by the small stuffed versions of the featured animals-all except slow Sloth and her cub. They began kissing on the first spread, and on the last page, they are "still...kissing good night!" It's an ending that's sure to elicit giggles from young listeners. The layout of the art and text adds to the fun as many of the characteristics and action words swirl across the page or pile up on top of each other. Illustrations, done in soft watercolors, range from full-page bleeds to small ovals and feature characters that swing or prance across the white space. The book is similar in approach to Claire Freedman's Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones (Good Bks., 2005) but it has more humor. It should find a place in most collections even if they already have Freedman's book or Dawn Apperley's Good Night, Sleep Tight, Little Bunnies (Scholastic, 2002).-Jane Marino, Bronxville Public Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

Paul's latest bedtime book proves satisfyingly soporific. In gentle rhymes, she imagines how the real versions of a bedroom menagerie might kiss goodnight: "Peacock and chick / would spin a fan dance / and kiss with a kickity / high-stepping prance." Python kisses involve twisting around, while seal kisses are underwater affairs with much bubble accompaniment. Sloth and her cub make several appearances, as their slow goodnight kiss lasts longer than anyone else's. While a family triad appears only once, both moms and dads dole out the smooches. Throughout, readers are introduced to the terms for animal babies and to the distinctive physical features that are the hallmark of each creature. Walker's adorable, soft-hued animals populate simply drawn habitats with the bare minimum of detail-perfect for capturing the attention of the littlest listeners. The imaginative possibilities alone make this one stand out from the glut of sickly sweet bedtime books. Sure to send readers off to a gentle goodnight . . . after a kiss, of course. (Picture book. 2-6)

Product Details

• ISBN: 0374380511
  
• ISBN-13: 9780374380519
• Format: Hardcover, 32pp
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Pub. Date: April 2008
• Sales Rank: 12,513
• Age Range: 4 to 6
• Series: Melanie Kroupa Bks.