Goodnight Bob

With every turn of the page, the Hassetts (Come Back, Ben) vacillate between fear and relief as a boy named Bob, tucked cozily into bed, is confronted by pairs of eyes staring at him from the darkness. John Hassett’s crayon-box color palette, smudgy textures, and cartoony characterizations help soften the eerie setup, but the white eyes that glow out from the blue-violet void surrounding Bob’s bed are still pretty creepy. Luckily, Bob has a flashlight, and its beam reveals that he has nothing to fear. One pair of eyes belong to a goldfish smiling in its bowl (“Bob saw two eyes. It was Fish. ‘Goodnight Bob,’ said Fish”), others belong to a dog and mouse, and then the story swings even more toward the weird. A hulking Bigfoot waves good night to Bob from outside his window, and when Bob sees “lots of eyes” outside after that, it’s simply the stars in the sky: “ ‘Goodnight Bob,’ said Stars.” The pared-down, repeating text creates a surprising amount of suspense—this story might not exactly reassure reluctant bed goers, but it should definitely provoke some nervous giggles. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)