New book Coming from "Goodnight Moon" author, Margaret Wise Brown

In October, 2017, there will be Good Day, Good Night, a previously unpublished book by Margaret Wise Brown.

It consists of two fragments written in 1950 and put away after Brown’s sudden death two years later, then combined by an editor a few years ago.  HarperCollins Children’s Books will publish it with original art by the author-illustrator, Loren Long.

 

Good Day, Good Night is not a sequel to Goodnight Moon, which did not sell well during Brown’s lifetime, finding its extraordinary success only years later.

 While Goodnight Moon takes place inside a house on a single evening, the new story follows its young-bunny protagonist as he wakes up, goes outside and greets numerous things, then heads back home and bids it all good night.

 

Good Day, Good Night began in a 1950 letter from Brown to one of her editors that Amy Gary, who wrote a biography of Brown, came across several years ago at the Westerly library. In it, Brown describes plans for a book in which, Ms. Gary said, “the child goes to sleep with the same things they wake up with.” Reading the letter, she continued, enabled her to see the connection between what had seemed to be two separate manuscripts — one about waking and one about going to sleep — in the trunk.

Margaret Wise Brown

 

Putting the two parts together required her to do some editing, Ms. Gary said, while keeping in mind Brown’s possible intentions and “trying to remain as true as we could to what she wanted it to be.” As for the title, “I worked with Margaret’s notes and the manuscript to develop” it, she said.

 

What will you think of the new book, Dear Reader?  Will it live up to Goodnight Moon?  Only time and the reader will judge that.  A few moons from now will more than tell the story!

Partnership Sends Newborns Home With Books

Here is a non-profit organization dedicated to literacy, the earliest literacy of all, beginning at birth.  Read to Grow promotes early literacy and is committed to giving all children a good start in life.

Each of the approximately 700 babies born annually at the Childbirth Center at Griffin Hospital now goes home with a new children’s book, thanks to a partnership between the hospital and the nonprofit organization Read to Grow.

Griffin Hospital recently became one of 12 Connecticut hospitals to adopt Read to Grow’s Books for Babies program. Statewide, Books for Babies reaches 53% of Connecticut newborns and their parents each year.

Parents of newborns also receive a literacy guide as part of this joint effort to foster children’s language and early literacy development, and to encourage reading aloud to babies from birth. Recent research suggests that children should be exposed to a language-rich environment from birth, because it can significantly improve cognitive and language development and readiness for school.

 Books for Babies links health to the importance of early literacy, language and attachment, and meets families in the hospital when a baby is born — an innovative approach to preventing future reading and learning difficulties.

Volunteer visits with parents

 

A trained volunteer visits with parents to introduce the Read to Grow program and talk about the “how and why” of reading aloud to babies.
The volunteers go through the literacy packet and encourage families to register for a Books for Babies follow-up sessions, which will provide them with another new book and literacy information on their child’s 3-month and 12-month birthdays.
Gently-used books are also available for siblings of newborns to promote family reading time.

A literacy resource for families

Read to Grow also provides gently-used books to children across the state through its Books for Kids program. Last year, Books for Kids delivered more than 127,000 books into the hands of young children.

“Studies show that in low-income neighborhoods, children often have few, if any books,” said Chet Brodnicki, interim executive director of Read to Grow. “The Valley Council reports that 10% of children residing in the Lower Naugatuck Valley live in poverty. Read to Grow is a resource for these families.”

Visit readtogrow.org for more information.

Goodnight Moon Goes High Tech!

Goodnight Moon has entered the high tech world.  Have a look!

Loud Crow Interactive, award-winning publisher of digital children's books, in partnership with HarperCollins Publishers, announce the release of Goodnight Moon, an interactive app for iPad^®, iPhone^® and iPod touch^®. View the app here.

Written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, Goodnight Moon is one of the best-selling children's storybooks of all time. More than 60 million copies of the book have been sold since it was first published in 1947.

Accompanied by narration and a piano soundtrack, Goodnight Moon features more than two hundred touchable objects, animations and hidden interactions to discover. Each spread is accompanied by an all new magnifying glass technology, which allows children to explore hidden objects and interact with the story on a whole new level, while also facilitating viewing of the book on smaller devices.

Other features include doodle box and photo booth for personalization, and stickers that can be earned through achievements. Goodnight Moon also includes educational elements such as word highlighting, individual words that are spoken at the tap of a finger, and three different modes to enjoy: Read to me, Read myself and Auto play.

Thacher Hurd, son of Clement Hurd, said:

My father would have loved this beautiful adaptation of Goodnight Moon. Loud Crow and HarperCollins have retained the quiet magic of the book while enhancing it with a lively array of interactivity.

Also available within Goodnight Moon are two educational books, Goodnight Moon ABC: An Alphabet Book and Goodnight Moon 123: A Counting Book. These interactive, educational apps feature letter and number tracing technology, counting and word guessing games, and various interactivities to help keep children engaged.

Goodnight Moon is available for purchase on iTunes^® for $4.99. Goodnight Moon ABC and Goodnight Moon 123 are available through in-app purchase for $1.99 apiece, or both apps bundled for $2.99.  See www.loudcrow.com for more details.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/08/4970196/literary-classic-goodnight-moon.html#storylink=cpy

Goodnight iPad, A Parody of the Children’s Book Goodnight Moon

Goodnight iPad is a new book by children’s author David Milgrim under the pseudonym “Ann Droyd." It’s a parody of the classic bedtime children’s book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.  Wise's book was first published in 1947.

(Be sure to view the You Tube video of the book at the bottom of this post.)

Milgrim’s updated story shows a very different homelife 50 years later, with mobile devices, social networks, and non-stop streaming media. Even the cat has headphones on.

The world of technology is morphing so quickly even technology cannot keep up!  It is refreshing to have fun with this fast paced part of modern life.

In a strange way, the video is a bit comforting as well.  In the midst of all the change and sometimes impersonal delivery of technology, comes a voice dripping with warmth, comfort and familiarity to a child's nighttime routine. 

Have fun with it!