Kiss good night

Ages 3-6. "It was a dark and stormy night on Plum Street," as Mrs. Bear puts little Sam to bed. After the bedtime ritual--the story, the elaborate tuck-in, the stuffed animal roundup, the glass of milk--Sam is still not ready for sleep. "What did I forget?" asks Mrs. Bear. It's the "kiss good night" that he's waiting for, and finally Mrs. Bear remembers and delivers the appropriate number to her already sleeping cub. The bedtime routine may be well-trod territory, but there's room for this title, which captures universal experience with humor, warmth, and authenticity. Jeram's thickly brushed, stylized paintings, in rich autumn colors, contrast the safe, snug interior of little Bear's bedroom with the swirling darkness outside, and the simple, repetitive text winds down at just the right pace for a sleepy audience. Pair this with Lauren Child's more boisterous I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed [BKL Ag 01]. --Gillian Engberg

Hest (When Jessie Came Across the Sea) pays tribute to reassuring bedtime rituals that assuage a toddler's fears even on a "dark and stormy night." Sam the bear cub will not go to sleep. "I'm waiting," he keeps telling Mrs. Bear, even though she's checked off everything on the bedtime list: book, blanket, friends (his stuffed toys) and milk. Then it dawns on Sam's mom that she's forgotten the kiss good night. Sam manages to coax a total of 10 goodnight kisses from Mom. With understated repetition and lyricism, Hest establishes the coziness of the nighttime interplay as well as the menacing sounds of the storm from inside Sam's bedroom: "Splat! on the roof. Splat! Splat! on the windows. The wind blew. Whoo, whoooo." Jeram moves from the light palette and breezy artwork in Guess How Much I Love You to thickly applied acrylic paintings. Her radiantly rendered ochre and rust shades translate easily from the autumn storm outside to the sturdy furniture and heavy wool blankets inside. While her characters' expressions seldom change, she uses their contrasting physical presence to great effect. The hulking Mrs. Bear is a literal bulwark of maternal devotion, while Sam's roly-poly poses comically communicate his coy devotion. Ages 2-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

PreS-K-Hest begins this sweet bedtime tale with, "It was a dark and stormy night on Plum Street" and Jeram's luminous folk paintings show a small, worried bear peering out the window at the wind-hurled leaves. The scene switches to inside his bedroom, golden in the lamplight, where Mrs. Bear is trying to put her son to sleep. The repetitive phrasing in each sequence, bound to delight young ones, is: "`Ready now, Sam?' `Oh, no,' said Sam. `I'm waiting.'" Mrs. Bear wracks her brain for every detail of their bedtime routine. They read their favorite book. They arrange the youngster's stuffed animals and drink some warm milk, while the wind blows, "Whoo, whoooo." Finally Mrs. Bear thinks to ask, "what did I forget?" "You know," says Sam. And, after a moment's thought, she does-as will every child who has absorbed the title of the book. This is an enchanting little story, with homey illustrations that add to its appeal. It will be particularly reassuring to read aloud on those dark and stormy nights.-Susan Weitz, Tompkins County Public Library, Ithaca, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

It takes a little while, but Mrs. Bear finally realizes that itÆs not a story or warm milk or his stuffed friends that Sam needs before bed--of course, itÆs a kiss. The lovingly depicted bedtime ritual features appealing bear characters and warmth-infused illustrations that conjure feelings of bedtime coziness. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

"It was a dark and stormy night on Plum Street." From this Bulwer-Lytton opening spins a comforting bedtime tale-owing not a little to another, more famous bedtime tale-of Sam the bear's nighttime routine. In a well-rehearsed pattern, Mrs. Bear (dressed in a green cardigan) reads to Sam, tucks him in with his stuffed toys (one of which is very similar to a certain little rabbit from that famous bedtime tale), and gives him some milk, asking with each step if she has forgotten anything. Of course: kisses. Once delivered, Sam settles down at last "on a dark and stormy night on Plum Street." Hest's (The Friday Nights of Nana, p. 939, etc.) language is reminiscent of Margaret Wise Brown's in its enumeration of the minutiae of a small child's bedtime rituals: "Mrs. Bear sat on the bed beside Sam and they read his favorite book and they both knew all the words." The storm makes its presence felt within the text-"Outside the rain came down. Splat! on the roof"-but the coziness of the story protects Sam and the reader from the elements. Jeram's (All Together Now, 1999, etc.) bright, acrylic, full-bleed illustrations focus on Sam's bedroom, with its warm, yellow walls and big, green bed, the storm mostly relegated to glimpses through the window. A cute, even sweet, bedtime story, with text and illustrations that work well together, but really, do we need another Goodnight Moon? (Picture book. 2-5)

Ages 3-6. "It was a dark and stormy night on Plum Street," as Mrs. Bear puts little Sam to bed. After the bedtime ritual--the story, the elaborate tuck-in, the stuffed animal roundup, the glass of milk--Sam is still not ready for sleep. "What did I forget?" asks Mrs. Bear. It's the "kiss good night" that he's waiting for, and finally Mrs. Bear remembers and delivers the appropriate number to her already sleeping cub. The bedtime routine may be well-trod territory, but there's room for this title, which captures universal experience with humor, warmth, and authenticity. Jeram's thickly brushed, stylized paintings, in rich autumn colors, contrast the safe, snug interior of little Bear's bedroom with the swirling darkness outside, and the simple, repetitive text winds down at just the right pace for a sleepy audience. Pair this with Lauren Child's more boisterous I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed [BKL Ag 01]. ((Reviewed October 1, 2001)) Copyright 2001 Booklist Reviews

Hest (When Jessie Came Across the Sea) pays tribute to reassuring bedtime rituals that assuage a toddler's fears even on a "dark and stormy night." Sam the bear cub will not go to sleep. "I'm waiting," he keeps telling Mrs. Bear, even though she's checked off everything on the bedtime list: book, blanket, friends (his stuffed toys) and milk. Then it dawns on Sam's mom that she's forgotten the kiss good night. Sam manages to coax a total of 10 goodnight kisses from Mom. With understated repetition and lyricism, Hest establishes the coziness of the nighttime interplay as well as the menacing sounds of the storm from inside Sam's bedroom: "Splat! on the roof. Splat! Splat! on the windows. The wind blew. Whoo, whoooo." Jeram moves from the light palette and breezy artwork in Guess How Much I Love You to thickly applied acrylic paintings. Her radiantly rendered ochre and rust shades translate easily from the autumn storm outside to the sturdy furniture and heavy wool blankets inside. While her characters' expressions seldom change, she uses their contrasting physical presence to great effect. The hulking Mrs. Bear is a literal bulwark of maternal devotion, while Sam's roly-poly poses comically communicate his coy devotion. Ages 2-up. (Aug.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Books for all ages come boxed for entertainment pleasure. Kiss Good Night Book and Toy Gift Set packages the board book edition of the title by Amy Hest, illus. by Anita Jeram, with a hand-size plush version of Sam the bear cub. PW said of the book, "Hest pays tribute to reassuring bedtime rituals that assuage a toddler's fears." Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

PreS-K-Hest begins this sweet bedtime tale with, "It was a dark and stormy night on Plum Street" and Jeram's luminous folk paintings show a small, worried bear peering out the window at the wind-hurled leaves. The scene switches to inside his bedroom, golden in the lamplight, where Mrs. Bear is trying to put her son to sleep. The repetitive phrasing in each sequence, bound to delight young ones, is: "`Ready now, Sam?' `Oh, no,' said Sam. `I'm waiting.'" Mrs. Bear wracks her brain for every detail of their bedtime routine. They read their favorite book. They arrange the youngster's stuffed animals and drink some warm milk, while the wind blows, "Whoo, whoooo." Finally Mrs. Bear thinks to ask, "what did I forget?" "You know," says Sam. And, after a moment's thought, she does-as will every child who has absorbed the title of the book. This is an enchanting little story, with homey illustrations that add to its appeal. It will be particularly reassuring to read aloud on those dark and stormy nights.-Susan Weitz, Tompkins County Public Library, Ithaca, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.