A Christmas Goodnight

Christmas Eve calls for extra-strength bedtime books for excited kids, and Buck offers one that will go down sweetly (and lend itself to repetition). Saying good night takes place first in scenes set at the birth of Jesus, and then in a snowy contemporary location, where a child settles down to sleep by a Nativity display in his bedroom that includes the figures from the earlier illustrations. Buck (Christmas in the Manger) and debut illustrator Wright produce a book that deserves special status, to be kept off-season with other holiday decorations and then brought out each year at Christmas. Great for grandparents to give. Ages 2–5. (Oct.)