We've Added to the Collection

So, we have a new addition to the transportation bedtime reads. In between our Wake Up Engines and Goodnight Engines, we've now got The Goodnight Train. I have to say, I love it.

Just like the other two books, this gem from author June Sobel, the story has fun text and imaginative images to keep a little one's interest. Laura Huliska-Beith's illustrations are cute and quirky and busy, but not too busy to detract from the soothing lull towards sleep that this book induces.

The varying refrain of the train's "choo-choo" makes Bug giggle at the beginning and give a little yawn at the end. The train of soon-to-be sleepers travels over bridges and through tunnels past the most entertaining scenery. A mermaid putting on her night cream? A sheep in her rocking chair knitting from a fellow sheep? Too funny.

And with those humorous thoughts floating in my head, it's my turn to take a ride on the train. Good night!

Great Companion Books for Toddlers Who Love Vehicles

My son and I have spent the last few weeks reading the same two books every night. They are wonderful books for any child who loves vehicles and transportation. Both written by Denise Dowling Mortensen, Wake Up Engines and Goodnight Engines, are companion stories with pretty obvious themes. Melissa Iwai's images of the vehicles and the little boy with his fleet are simple and sweet and beautiful to look at.

We always have to read Wake Up Engines first. The text is relatively simple and rolls nicely off the tongue. Bug has the second half of every page memorized so he finishes all the sentences. He's particularly found of the trucks' noises he gets to emulate. And really, who doesn't smile when they say "Honk, honk! Toot toot! Bbroom broom broom!" There's a nice variety of vehicles in the book and as they all start their days, so does the little boy in the story. Truly a charming book.

And just as Wake Up Engines details the morning routine for all the vehicles of the town, Goodnight Engines tells how they all quiet down at night. The first few times I read this to him, I gradually lowered the volume of my voice until I was barely whispering the last few pages. Now, if I forget, I get, "Momma..shhhh. Sleepy quiet." It's a wonderful book to transition to bedtime.

We have very few books that aren't his "very, much favorite" books, but it's always a little stab to my purse strings when a book (which aren't inexpensive) gets sat by the wayside shortly after purchase. So, while I totally recommend buying these, you can do what I did and first check them out at the library to make sure they're your child's cup of tea.

Speaking of tea, I'm off to drink my Sleepytime Vanilla and dream of mountains of books and scratch and sniff stickers.