21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Night, Good Knight, Good Book, April 14, 2000
Delightful beginning reader that is also a delight as a bedtime, good night book. It centers around the efforts of a knight to help three little dragons get to sleep with the usual glasses of water, bedtime stories and a lullaby. Repetition in words, actions and illustrations both facilitate its function as an early reader and as a sleep inducer. Vocabulary like, crumbly tumbly tower, clippety-clop make it fun and the juxtaposition of the very loud roars the knight hears and the little dragons with their jammies on and their inocent requests are delicious. The story may remind readers of "The Wolf's Chicken Stew."
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!, May 3, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Good Night, Good Knight (Penguin Young Readers, L2) (Mass Market Paperback)
We've been reading this book just about every night for 6 months now. My kids(aged 3 and 5)are busily galloping around on their stick horses while shouting "away!"; climbing crumbly-tumbly towers, and hiding in deep, dark caves. Get ready--for three months I had to build deep dark caves for my little dragons to sleep in.
And there's a sequel--"Get Well, Good Knight"! My kids love that one, too!
I like the books, as well. Any parent can sympathize with the Good Knight's situation. All in all, this is a good read for the pre-k/k set.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh what a knight, December 20, 2004
This review is from: Good Night, Good Knight (Penguin Young Readers, L2) (Mass Market Paperback)
Ah, sweet metaphor. Do children get metaphors? Studies show.... actually I haven't a clue what studies show. I haven't a clue if kids, little kids who are just beginning to read on their own, understand metaphors. Some do, I suspect. Others, not so much. Now, the book "Good Night, Good Knight", is a pretty obvious metaphor. And little children reading it will probably understand what the dragons in it represent and what the knight himself represents. Even if they don't, it's a smashing good tale. Sweet without descending into saccharine. Cute without being cutesy. It has just the right amounts of adorableness and neediness within its pages. Parents will be able to read it again and again without gagging. Kids will be able to read it with pure unadulterated pleasure.
Once there were three little dragons who didn't live all that far away from a good knight. One night the knight hears a roar. He hops on his horse to investigate and meets a small dragon in a cave. The dragon is not particularly surprised to see the knight (words along the lines of "Oh good. You have come" are bandied about) and asks for a drink of water before it goes to bed. The knight is wary but acquiesces and the little dragon is tucked into bed. No sooner than the knight goes home does he hear another roar. This comes from a second dragon who wants a story plus the first dragon who wants another drink of water. By the time the knight is called to take care of a third little dragon the reader sees where all this is going. The story is an excellent tale of an increasingly weary knight as he attempts to cajole and tuck in three mildly demanding little dragons for beddy-bye. At the end, the dragons are asleep (finally!) and the knight finally gets to fall into his own bed for the night.
I think what saves this book is the fact that though the dragons are somewhat demanding, they are quite polite. A story about three spoiled tantrum-throwing dragons who refuse to go to bed would have been, how do you say, not so nice to read. These dragons speak in full sentences and request only those things that small children would request. Stories, kisses on their scaly cheeks, stories, and songs. An added pleasure comes in the form of Jennifer Plecas' illustrations. Rendered in somewhat cartoony watercolors, the little dragons all have nightgowns, pjs, and various toys and stuffed animals. The knight, for his part, often looks surprised but never outright displeased. Like every patient parent he gets a little weary with the continual requests (his facial expression when all three roar for him together is one that every parent will recognize and sympathize with) but rarely upset.
There is nothing frightening in this book. There is nothing mildly disturbing. There is just a sweet bedtime story about a knight and his sudden dragony charges. This is a good bedtime book, if only because it's one of the few whose plot isn't based on children refusing to go to bed. This time it's children perfectly willing to go to bed but with some stipulations beforehand. If you'd like a book that will amuse you and please your children all at once, "Good Night, Good Knight" does indeed fit the bill. Sweet without insulting anyone's intelligence.
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