Goodnight School

by Catherine Bailey, Cori Doerrfeld (Illustrator)

Overview

School’s First Day of School meets Good Night, Gorilla in this irresistible bedtime story about School getting ready to go to sleep!
As the sun sets, a security guard arrives to help this sleepy little school get some rest. From tucking in chairs to checking all the locks to listening to the silverware snoring, she makes her moonlit rounds. One by one, the lights are turning off and everyone is turning in. Well, everyone except for the turtle from 2A. Will this escapee make it back to bed on time?

Bailey's lusciously lyrical and dreamy story expertly peels back the curtain for the littlest readers who ever wondered what happens to school at night, making Goodnight School the perfect pick for early childhood educators, back-to-school, and, of course, bedtime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454948544
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	06/18/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	408,826
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD480L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Catherine Bailey is an award-winning children’s book author and youth presenter. A few of her titles include Hustle Bustle Bugs, Harbor Bound, Dinos Don’t Do Yoga, Mind Your Monsters, and others. She is an active member of SCBWI. Her poetry has appeared in Highlights magazine. She currently lives with her family in Florida. 

Cori Doerrfeld is an author and illustrator of children’s books, including the New York Times bestseller The Rabbit Listened. She received her undergraduate degree in studio art from St. Olaf College and her post-baccalaureate from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two children.

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/13/2024

Bailey and Doerrfeld skillfully twine story lines in this loving after-hours tribute to a stalwart school building. Following a long day, the school is ready for some much-needed rest (“All the cubbies yawn,/ lined up, clean and neat.// Worksheets settle in./ Erasers are just beat”), and a pale-skinned night guard’s arrival signals the structure’s bedtime. Meanwhile, a red-eared slider turtle escapes its classroom terrarium and embarks on a journey through the rooms, cleverly evading the diligent security guard, who notices that something’s amiss while making rounds. The characters’ near-misses offers plenty opportunity for sight gags that showcase the turtle’s ingenuity (it crouches beneath a tambourine in the music room and swipes a cupcake from the teachers’ lounge) while subtly celebrating all the spaces and things that make school a place filled with near-constant activity. Human background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"A loving after-hours tribute to a stalwart school building."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review

"The titular school may be sleepy, but kids will stay awake long enough to pore over the inspired artwork."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2024-05-17
Who knew a school needed some shut-eye, too?

As the school closes for the night, the class turtle leaves its aquarium to explore and the tan-skinned Night Guard starts her rounds, turning off lights and checking that all’s safe, clean, and tucked away neatly. Expressed in languid but occasionally clunky verse, this story gives readers a good idea of what the guard’s job entails: plenty. The real highlights, though, are the slyly clever illustrations, which will be particularly appreciated by those who enjoy finding hidden objects in artwork. Virtually every page contains inanimate objects that resemble faces with smiles or half-closed eyes. In a classroom, a round reading rug with pillows for eyes smiles sleepily; a couch in the teachers’ lounge seems ready for slumber. Other objects look like cozy beds, such as cafeteria lunch trays with napkins for pillows. Musical instruments dream, cubbies snooze, and a water fountain appears to be drooling in its sleep. Even the facade of the school building, with its droopy window shades and door, looks comically as though it’s about to doze off. Kids will relish discovering these and many more ingenious images throughout, not to mention tracking that errant turtle, whose path may be followed on every page. (It’s returned safely to bed, in case you’re wondering.)

The titular school may be sleepy, but kids will stay awake long enough to pore over the inspired artwork. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews