GOOD NIGHT, BODY

Little bodies settle down for the night.

“Hello, body. Hello, dear friend. We’ve been with each other all day, but sometimes I forget to notice you!” Lee, author of The Boy With the Big, Big Feelings (2019) and The Girl With the Big, Big Questions (2021), presents an engaging, conversational offering about a bedtime routine rooted in mindfulness that every family can use. Little ones are invited to say goodbye to their last wiggles of the day by pretending to curl up like a hedgehog and then opening up like a starfish. Then it’s time to climb into bed and take a few deep breaths. First readers say goodnight to their heads, wishing for it to be as light as a breeze. Next they ask their minds to be “playful like a puppy. Catch comforting thoughts, sailing by like bubbles, and gently blow the others away.” Face, eyes, mouth, shoulders, arms…all the way down to the toes, children greet each body part and wish it goodnight before drifting off for a restful sleep. Fallberg’s softly flowing illustrations depict wide-eyed, happy youngsters who have a variety of skin tones (including one brown-skinned little one who appears to have vitiligo) following the instructions of the text, sometimes from bed, sometimes in their imaginations. One child uses a wheelchair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Offers both a soothing nighttime routine and an age-appropriate introduction to mindfulness.