I Just Want To Say Good Night

There are some behaviors that span the globe, as we see in this light tale of a little girl, Lala, who is supposed to go to bed but is having none of it. Lala and her family live in the otherwise unspecified "African veld," whose inhabitants provide Lala with numerous stalling opportunities. "I just want to say good night to the goat...I just want to say good night to the little ants...I'm just not ready to go to sleep," Lala confides to her pet dog. That's the extent of this book's preschool-perfect conflict, and the text could not be simpler, giving to Isadora's illustrations, oil paint and ink, all the drama of sunset on the African plains. The ever-deepening blue of the sky is the backdrop to a rich display of plants and animals, all naturally but boldly hued and anchored by the human forms of Lala and her family and their fellow villagers. A twist at the end--Lala, finally in bed, saying goodnight to the moon while holding a copy of Goodnight Moon in her hands--is a good gentle joke in its own right but also serves to reinforce the universality of the situation. roger sutton