Elem. – Goodnight Veggies

Murray, Diana, and Zachariah OHora. Goodnight Veggies. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2020. 978-1-328-86683-7. Unpaged. $17.99. Grades PreK-2.

Evening has arrived, and the urban, rooftop garden settles down for the night, because even young vegetables need their rest. An engaging worm (reminiscent of Lowly Worm from Richard Scarry books) on his way home to bed guides the reader through an over- and underground tour of the garden, as each vegetable yawns and begins to nod off. A lullaby with the tomatoes, a bedtime story with the broccoli; each vegetable has its own bedtime routine. And why are the young vegetables so tired? Because they are so busy growing! The rhyming text is sparse, giving center stage to the illustrations. Any young readers who think they don’t like vegetables may change their minds after interacting with the delightful artwork. It’s hard not to like an eggplant who dreams of going into space.

THOUGHTS: A fun book for one-on-one reading or at story time. Youngsters will no doubt enjoy finding their favorite veggie or maybe not-so-favorites, and lively discussions will ensue.

Picture Book          Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor SD

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *