Goodnight World

It’s time for the whole world to go to sleep: “Goodnight planet, goodnight world./ Peaceful clouds around Earth curled.” Waves rock ocean liners to sleep (wispy Zs puff out of their smokestacks), and even a rocket ship has put on a pair of plaid pajamas. In treetops and burrows, at the North Pole and zoo, babies of various species are seen snuggling with siblings, many of them entranced by a bedtime story read by a parent. And at a house where humans live, a small boy in his father’s arms looks out the window: “Goodnight sounds of distant cars,/ and in the sky, a million stars.” Gliori’s (Dragon’s Extraordinary Egg) salute to the day’s end has some misses (a Northern Lights display looks oddly droopy and gelatinous) and perhaps a few too many overly familiar scenes of loving, cuddling families. But there’s a comforting, plush-toy quality to her rounded images, and enough inventiveness—a honey-colored image of a queen bee reading to her entire hive is funny and touching—to make this a fine addition to the bedtime bookshelf. Ages 3–6. (Aug.)