“In the great green room

There was a telephone

And a red balloon

And a picture of – ”



Goodnight Moon is a classic and well-loved American children’s picture book from 1947. It was written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. Many American adults remember it as their favourite bedtime story, and it continues to lull young children to sleep to this very day.



The book describes a bedtime ritual, more than telling an actual story. A young anthropomorphic bunny is in bed saying “good ni

“In the great green room

There was a telephone

And a red balloon

And a picture of – ”



Goodnight Moon is a classic and well-loved American children’s picture book from 1947. It was written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. Many American adults remember it as their favourite bedtime story, and it continues to lull young children to sleep to this very day.



The book describes a bedtime ritual, more than telling an actual story. A young anthropomorphic bunny is in bed saying “good night” to everything she can see around her:



“Goodnight room

Goodnight moon

Goodnight cow jumping over the moon

Goodnight light, and the red balloon ...”



There are three books in the series, all by the same author and illustrator, the others being “The Runaway Bunny” and “My World”. These three books have been published together as a collection, with the overall title “Over the Moon”.



In this rhyming poem, the bunny works her way through seemingly random but personally significant objects, such as a red balloon, the bunny’s doll’s house, two kittens, a brush and comb and so on. The book has slowly become a bestseller. It has currently sold an estimated 48 million copies, and been translated into over a dozen different languages. It is hard to see the attraction, save that a bedtime ritual is helpful and reassuring, little children love rhymes, and a familiar short book often becomes a favourite. The illustrations are simply drawn, and coloured in flat areas with no shading. There is a spacious feel about the room, however, and the light cast on the bunny seems benevolent; the moon outside friendly, the twinkly stars restful and familiar. To an adult it may seem surreal, but there is an appeal for young children.



It seems to be the case with several great writers of children’s classics, that they never leave their childhood behind in the conventional way. They never really become settled domestically, in happy relationships, or as normally functioning members of society. Perhaps the most inspired children’s writers never grow up. Margaret Wise Brown was a restless and unsettled person. She never had children of her own, and her affairs were often chaotic and unstable. She had periods of despair and loneliness, and there are many reports of her provocative or obstructive comments. Her books may seem delightfully whimsical, but under the surface seemingly lies isolation and turmoil. She called one longstanding lesbian lover, “Rabbit”, but even their relationship was by all accounts rocky and tormented. In desperation her lover once took an illustrator aside and said, “Why don’t you marry Margaret and take her off my hands?”



Perhaps it is the author’s brittle and alienated personality which enabled her to empathise with how little children would feel reassured. Margaret Wise Brown once said that she considered the purpose of children’s books to be:



“to jog him with the unexpected and comfort him with the familiar.”



Quite prolific in her work, Margaret Wise Brown originally worked as a teacher, and also studied art. It was while working at the “Bank Street Experimental School” in New York City, that she started writing books for children. The school believed in a new approach to children’s education and literature, one which was rooted in the real world, and the here and now. Margaret Wise Brown embraced both this philosophy, and also was influenced by the poet Gertrude Stein.



She once referred to the:



“painful shy animal dignity with which a child stretches to conform to a strange, adult social politeness.”



Margaret Wise Brown’s first children’s book was published in 1937 and entitled “When the Wind Blew”. She went on to develop her “Here and Now” stories, and later the “Noisy Book” series. Between 1944 and 1946, she wrote three picture books under the pseudonym “Golden MacDonald”. Even in her personal life the author went by various nicknames, perhaps seeking an identity. To some she was “Tim”, as her hair was the colour of timothy hay. To others she was “Brownie”. To those who were familiar with the use of the pseudonym “Golden MacDonald”, she was “Goldie”. Early in the 1950s she wrote several books for the “Little Golden Books” series, including “The Color Kittens”, “Mister Dog”, and “Scuppers The Sailor Dog”.



Margaret Wise Brown was a lifelong beagler, very keen on hunting hares and rabbits. A beagle pack of ten or more hounds, following the animals by scent, would usually be followed on foot. The author's enthusiasm and ability to keep pace with the hounds was well known at the time. In one interview for “Life” magazine, the reporter expressed surprise that such affectionate portrayals of so many rabbits in her books could be created by one who had such a zest for hunting and shooting rabbits. The author replied:



“Well, I don’t especially like children, either. At least not as a group. I won’t let anybody get away with anything just because he is little.”



Even her last moments seem akin to something from a black farce. Margaret Wise Brown was in a hospital in France, with appendicitis. The operation seemed to be routine, and she was clearly in one of her ebullient social moods. Earlier the same year she had met James Stillman “Pebble” Rockefeller Junior at a party, and they became engaged. One morning, she jokily kicked her leg in a can-can style, to prove to one of the medics how well she was recovering. An embolism killed her instantly. Perhaps she would have appreciated this grotesquerie.



Margaret Wise Brown left behind over 70 unpublished manuscripts. Her sister tried to sell them without success, so kept them instead, in a cedar trunk for decades. Comprising more than 500 typewritten pages in all, they were rediscovered in 1991, and most have now been published. Many of them have new illustrations, but most, like this edition of Goodnight Moon are still in print with the original illustrations.



The book is compact and sturdy. In this case “board” book describes the pages as well as the cover. It is very substantial and can withstand overly affectionate treatment by the smallest people. However, neither the text nor the illustrations of the book especially appeal to me. I do understand that it has had a classic appeal to several generations. I see that no less than fifteen of my friends have rated it 5 stars, and several more rate it above average. I have to assume then, that in this case I am out of step with the target audience, and let this book stay at my personal default of 3 stars.