Why Do We Say Good Night?

Why Do We Say Good Night? Champ Thornton

In simple, rhyming verse, Thornton uses this story with a little girl and her mum to acknowledge the fears young children have about darkness and going to bed. It’s bedtime, but she isn’t sure night time is good, and so asks “why do we say goodnight?”

Her mum points out that the monsters and scary things she imagines in the dark aren’t real, but more than that, there are three promises about God that the little girl can cling to:

• God made the night “so even dark is good and right”
• God sees everything, so “dark is like bright light to him”, and when it is dark, “God is watching through the night”
• God is near, “Just like a shepherd guards his sheep, the Lord protects while we’re asleep”

It’s aimed at pre-schoolers, with very simple language. Rommel Ruiz is the illustrator, and there is a cartoony, art-deco sort of quality to them, and since it’s night-time, lots of dark colour with blues and purples throughout. The scenes start with her simple normal bedroom, but then various shapes and toys come alive to be bigger and scarier in the little girl’s imagination.

For little ones with worries about bedtime, this could be a lovely way to remind them that God is with them always, protecting, caring and in control.

I was given an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.