Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

Set against a cityscape backdrop, Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site tells the story of five tough trucks working on a big construction site. It is the end of a hard day's work and the reader gets to learn a little bit about each truck and the work they do before saying goodnight to each of them.

The story is told in delightful rhyming text. There are lots of action words used, which provides wonderful opportunity to engage little ones - Maximilian loves to "reach and stretch and lift" like Crane Truck and, of course, the repetitive Shh...goodnight is nice to say together with "shushing". The language used also makes this a great read aloud book, as it's fun to crrrunch the gravel along with Dump Truck and rooaaar along with Bulldozer.  Like all good bedtime stories, there are also lots of opportunities throughout the story for parent and child to enjoy some good cuddles!

Lichtenheld's illustrations are just magnificent and really are works of art. The trucks and diggers manage to be both cartoonish and realistic, and their faces are filled with such personality. There is also incredible detail in every picture, and I've been amazed by how many things Maximilian sees in the pictures that I've missed - there is one page with a little owl that he spots every time! As he gets older and his vocabulary grows, I'm sure he'll notice and articulate even more of the details in the pictures.

The bedtime detail in the pictures is also really charming - Crane Truck has a teddy bear and night light while Cement Mixer has a little blankie. The night sky with the lovely sleepy moon illustration is featured on each goodnight page and the twilight blue is really striking and unusual and very engaging - as are the illustrations of the trucks and diggers.

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site is a wonderful book that will always hold a special place in our hearts, because this is the book that taught Maximilian about bedtime!

We chose very gentle bedtime techniques with our babies. As a small baby, we always cuddled Maximilian to sleep before putting him in his cradle or cot. As he grew bigger, we would cuddle him on our bed before transferring him to his own cot once he was fast asleep. But, as I got bigger and bigger when I was pregnant with Walther and as Walther's arrival grew closer and closer, it became impossible - I simply couldn't bend over his cot to lift his 12kg sleeping body in any more!! It was time to help Maximilian learn to go to sleep in his own bed. 

We tried lots of different things - putting him in his bed awake and sitting nearby singing songs or reading books, patting him off to sleep, etc. We had moderate success and things were going quite well. Then, one night when Walther was only a few weeks old, Daddy had to be out at night and Mummy needed to do bedtime by herself. I knew I didn't have very long before Walther would need feeding, so it had to be a pretty quick bedtime routine. I cuddled Maximilian up in my feeding chair and read him Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site. As we said Shh...goodnight to each of the trucks in the book, Maximilian grew sleepier and sleepier. When we had finished the book, I carried him over to Walther's cot and he said Shh...goodnight to bubby, then Shh...goodnight to our parrots, then Shh...goodnight to ape (his favourite cuddly toy) etc. When I put him in his bed, I simply said Shh...goodnight Maximilian, tucked him in and left the room - and he went straight to sleep and didn't wake again until morning. It was magical! And it was the same night after night - the bedtime ritual and routine that this book gave us worked like a dream and we haven't looked back since.

Maximilian received Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site as a gift for his first Christmas. We fell in love with the beautiful artwork and delightful rhyming text immediately and tried reading it to him when he was a few months old. It is quite a long story though and didn't immediately catch his interest. We tried again a few months later and made it through a few of the trucks in the book, but it wasn't until he was around 14 months old that he started to really enjoy this book and sit through the whole story. Once this happened though, Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site was a firm favourite and the only book he wanted to read for several weeks!!

I really can't recommend this book highly enough. Great for any little person interested in trucks, diggers and construction equipment. This is a wonderful book to give as a gift - we have the hardcover edition. The story is most suitable for ages 2 and up, and there is also plenty to engage older readers.

This is our best bedtime story ever!

What is your favourite bedtime story to read with your children? I'd love to hear about it!

Dr Seuss's Seusscase by Dr Seuss

It's been a real Dr Seuss week in our house and this is largely due to the fantastic Dr Seuss Seusscase!

The Seusscase is a fantastic collection of ten Dr Seuss stories. It has all the popular hits: Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Oh, the Places You'll Go!, The Lorax, Fox in Socks and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; plus a whole lot more less well known Seuss titles (well less known to me anyway!) like I Wish that I had Duck Feet, Dr Seuss's ABC, etc.....

And the best part is all the books are packed together into a fantastic little suitcase (or Seusscase!) There is nothing cuter than Maximilian grabbing his little Seusscase and coming up to me saying "book, book!"

Maximilian received this great compendium of Dr Seuss books as a gift for his first Christmas, but it is only very recently that he has started to sit through and enjoy books by Dr Seuss. I hadn't remembered just how long many of the stories are but now, at 20 months, Maximilian quite happily sits through over 40 pages of Dr Seuss, which is pretty impressive I think.

The back of the books in the Seusscase are also colour coded: blue for sharing with your child, green for children just beginning to read on their own and yellow for fluent readers to enjoy. Dr Seuss books are full of rhyme and repetition to help early readers recognise the words and are also full of crazy nonsense words which are just plain fun to read aloud!

Maximilian loves to open his Seusscase and choose a book for us to read together. His first favourite was Oh! The Places You'll Go! - which I'm sorry to say I didn't know very well before but now adore. Green Eggs and Ham is also a huge hit and, this weeks favourite read by a long way, Fox in Socks - although I, like Mr Knox, have trouble reading the tongue twisters aloud! He has also just started to enjoy One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, which was a childhood favourite of mine.

If you're looking for a book gift for a child, you could do far worse than a Dr Seuss book and you probably can't do better than a whole box of them!! We love our Seusscase!

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss

The story of Sam's quest to get a grouch to eat green eggs and ham is a well deserved classic of children's literature and has always been one of my favourite Dr Seuss books.

This is such a funny book. Who doesn't love the interplay between Sam and the grouch?! The way the grouch gets more and more exasperated and the way that Sam's suggestions get more and more outrageous is nothing short of hilarious!

The fantastic rhyming, rhythmic repetitive text in Green Eggs and Ham makes this a terrific story for kids learning to read independently.

This is also a perfect book for parents to read aloud to their child. Unlike some Dr Seuss books, this one is easy to read, with simple plain language and no real tongue twisters!

I've used Green Eggs and Ham as a library storytime book lots of times and the kids always love it. It is especially good for reading out loud with a partner as you can have so much fun as either the increasingly grumpy grouch or the wheedling pleading Sam.

I've also been surprised when rereading Dr Seuss just how many themes and morals are contained within these simple stories - the moral in Green Eggs and Ham being try new things even if you think you don't like them as you may just be surprised! And what a great book for parents to quote to their child during those wonderful dinner time discussions about eating one vegetable or another - try it and you might like it :-)

It wasn't until I started reading Dr Seuss with Maximilian that I realised just how long the books actually are. We tried One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish a few times but he hasn't taken to it at all yet (although it is my childhood fave). Green Eggs and Ham though was a hit from the first reading and we now read it every other day! In fact, Sam is the second book character that Maximilian now recognizes and knows by name - the first was Max from Where the Wild Things Are.

At 20 months, Maximilian doesn't truly understand the humour in this book. It is lovely though how he earnestly shakes his head and says "No" along with the grouches refusal to eat the green eggs and ham and how he claps at the end when he tries and likes them! And the rhythmic text keeps him totally riveted through the whole book.

Green Eggs and Ham would be a great addition to a food themed storytime session - team it with I will not ever never eat a tomato by Lauren Child, and you are guaranteed to have lots of fun!!