Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Page Grabbers stage.
Why it fits Page Grabbers (for young toddlers who treat books as things to do)
The big trucks finish their work and tuck themselves in. It sends the day's noisy energy to sleep along with the machines. The truck-lover's bedtime treaty.
What makes it special
Rinker's masterstroke was giving the trucks themselves a bedtime — the excavator yawns, and suddenly so does the child. Tom Lichtenheld's dusty, golden-hour machines are drawn with real affection for how equipment actually works. It closes the day's throttle gently, converting truck-obsessed energy into sleep.
From the publisher
At sunset, when their work is done for the day, a crane truck, a cement mixer, and other pieces of construction equipment make their way to their resting places and go to…
About Sherri Duskey Rinker
Sherri Duskey Rinker was an advertising designer and exhausted mother of truck-obsessed boys when she wrote Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site — which parked at #1 on the New York Times list and effectively founded the trucks-at-bedtime genre.
She wrote the manuscript at night after her sons fell asleep, sold it from the slush pile, and kept her day job until the book's success made the decision for her.
Also by this author: Steam Train, Dream Train · Mighty, Mighty Construction Site · Construction Site on Christmas Night
More from “Just Like My Day”
This book is part of The Best Books for Toddlers: 30 Teacher Picks (Page Grabbers) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.