If Animals Kissed Good Night

By Ann Whitford Paul, illustrated by David Walker
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2008 (board book 2014)
Board book, 34 pages, ages baby – 3 years

If animals kissed like we kiss good night,
Sloth and her cub in late afternoon’s light
would hang from a tree and start kissing sooo slooowwwww…
the sky would turn pink and the sun sink down low.

So starts this sweet bedtime book. With flowing rhyme, the text introduces many different animals and imagines the way that they might kiss good night. A simple plot and premise, but with its soothing cadence and pastel-hued, adorable characters, this book creates a cozy atmosphere for settling down at the end of the

A tried-and-true bedtime read aloud. 

If Animals Kissed Good Night is a best-seller and perennial baby shower gift, and it’s easy to see why. It is a perfectly tailored bedtime read, designed to bring reader and child together – and maybe try a few different ways to kiss goodnight. The splashes of humor and fun word play keep it from being too precious.

While I enjoyed how the author plays with words and sounds – most of the time it enhances the story – there are a few tongue-twisty spots and some lines are awkward to read aloud. The layout is the same – curving lines that are mostly easy to read except in a few places. These two drawbacks kept this from being a solid 5-star rating, but still highly recommended.

If Animals Kissed Good Night by Ann Whitford Paul gets 4.5 stars from this reviewer.