Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon is a children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was first published in 1947, and is a highly-acclaimed example of a 'bedtime story'. It is also an example of a meta-'bedtime story', as it depicts the process of saying goodnight to everything around. "Goodnight moon, goodnight stars..."

Goodnight Moon is considered a classic in children's literature. The book is a poem, written in a simple rhyme form. It contains illustrations of many objects familiar to a child, including a reoccurring mouse. Part of the activity of reading this book is identifying these objects in the illustrations. As the book progresses, the room depicted gets continuously darker, the moon rises higher in the sky, and the time on the clock gets later.

It is published in a board book edition, a book whose pages are actually stiff cardboard to make it suitable to give to a very young child. It is also published in a 'jumbo' edition, suitable for use with large groups.