Book Review: Nighty Night

I’ve decided to start a new series of blog posts. On a regular basis I will review a book that my two and a half year old son has recently read. But don’t just take my word for it, check out The Daniel Pages for his point of view.
The first one we’ve chosen is Nighty Night by Colin McNaughton (click here to see on Amazon).

This has become part of Daniel’s nightly routine and he calls for it without fail. Technical stuff first: It has twelve double pages with bright pastel colours, big bold text (that becomes bigger or smaller to reflect tone of voice!) and appealing cartoons. The story builds up to a wonderful rant by Littlesaurus about why he doesn’t want to sleep then closes with a lovely, snuggly ending. I actually think one of the reasons we all love this book so much is because Littlesaurus reminds us so much of Daniel, and I suspect any parent will recognise their lively toddler in our hero.

The parents, Mummysaurus and Daddysaurus, are also brilliantly drawn – again, I recognise both myself and my husband in their reactions to bedtime. I love when Mummysaurus tells Daddysaurus that he’s supposed to be calming Littlesaurus down and he slinks away guiltily.

The only negative thing I can think of is if you are trying to encourage your child to stay in their bed all night, this might not help, as Littlesaurus ends up snuggling in between Mummy and Daddysaurus. But it’s such a sweet ending I love it anyway!

Reading the story is a lot of fun for both us and Daniel. The sentences are short and snappy, and Daniel loves to echo them back, sometimes finishing them before we do! I can see this being a favourite for years, and will be a good choice when he starts reading on his own as the text is so clear and the words are a good mix between challenging and manageable.

There is another book advertised on the back cover, featuring the same characters, dealing with potty training, and as soon as I finish this post I will be popping over to Amazon to buy it. If Potty Poo-poo Wee-wee is as much fun as Nighty Night I can’t wait to get started.

Thanks for reading our first book review. I’d love anyone to comment if they have read this book or can recommend similar, or if there’s anything I’ve missed off the review. If you have a book you read to your children and fancy putting up a review use the Contact Me page to send an email letting me know, it would be great to hear from you.

Don’t forget to pop over to The Daniel Pages to get Daniel’s verdict on Nighty Night!

4 thoughts on “Book Review: Nighty Night”

  1. Love the sound of Nighty Night.
    My friends little boy loves to sneak into his mum’s bed every morning so I’m sure he’ll enjoy the cheeky ending.

  2. It’s a fabulous book, I can’t wait to get the potty one. Hope your friend’s little boy enjoys it as much as Daniel!

  3. Hi R,
    lovely idea for blog, have you read ‘guess how much I love you’ to him, beautiful book,
    I have detwittered myself, as I am very prone to distractions,
    but am still alive and well in cyberspace and still visiting everyone’s blogs, still blogging myself at sortofwitty.blogspot.com, so keep visiting and keep in touch, as I really want to win your baby sweepstake,
    take care,
    brigid (formerly sortofwriting)

  4. Yes I love that book, we haven’t actually got it but have had it from library – it’s on my to-buy list!

    Thank you for lovely comment, I’m going to try to do a review regularly especially as Daniel is so into books at the minute – it will encourage us both to do more and more.

    I will certainly keep visiting your blog, I very much enjoy reading it.

    Take care yourself, see you around the Internet!

Leave a Reply

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

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.