2009 Caldecott winner for illustration. I must admit...with some shame...that I didn't read it until it won, and then my expectations were so high that I was a little underwhelmed. After reading the many glowing professional reviews, I'm applying my most open mind. I did like the quiet simplicity of the text, and the "classic" feel of the whole thing: the cumulative rhyme hearkens back to pieces like "The House That Jack Built"; the scratchboard illustrations are quite folksy (black and white with highlights of yellow); and the bedtime theme and bedroom depictions put me comfortably in mind of one of MY childhood favorites, [b:Goodnight Moon|32929|Goodnight Moon, 60th Anniversary Edition|Margaret Wise Brown|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168407089s/32929.jpg|1086867]. I also don't have an alternative winner that I think was distinctly better (for a similar approach, [b:Ghosts in the House|80521|Four Major Plays A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder (Oxford World's Classics)|Henrik Johan Ibsen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170983545s/80521.jpg|3058500]?), so really, I have no leg to stand on.

Call it a fault of the "Caldecott mystique" that nothing can live up to my hopes? ;) This will be a great bedtime book or gift book, but I don't know that kids will ask for it. Still, I give it props for its beauty and for its ability to seem old and new at the same time. Because of that, it will surely last longer than the fad/licensed-character books that kids DO ask for, and that's worthy of award.