While scanning the book shelf at Wal*Mart I picked at least 10 books that I really wanted to purchase. I had to cut it down to three and chose to buy Goodnight, Thumper because who can resist a cute bunny yawning on the cover of a book? Yes, this is Thumper of Bambi fame but there is no mention of the cute little deer.
The Story
On the first page we see Thumper hopping along. Even though all of the other bunnies had gone home, Thumper wasn’t sleepy yet.
Hopping along he says goodnight to a mouse, watches a momma duck kissing her babies goodnight, watches the chipmunks drift of to sleep and then heads home after hearing his mama calling him. His sisters are happy to see him and after listening to papa tell a story they all settle down to sleep after extra kisses from mama and papa.
The Illustrations
The illustrations in this book appear to be computer animated drawings. While they look almost like photographs, you can tell that they aren’t.
Most of the background is in the forest and it is night time so the backgrounds are dark to give that sleepy feeling, but bright enough to be able to see the details of each page.
The medium / small text is white so that it is easily seen on each page. Each page contains 1 – 4 sentences so it is a quick read, but would be a bit of a challenge for an early reader.
My Feelings
When I showed two of my daycare children (ages 2 and 4) the three books I had bought I asked them which one they wanted to hear first. They both picked Goodnight, Thumper which surprised me a little bit but also showed me that me picking a book with a yawning bunny on the front was good choice.
This is a very simple story and since the book is a board book I think it is aimed at the 1 – 3 or 4 year old set. It isn’t written in rhyme and I do feel rhyming books seem to hold younger children’s attention better but this one was of interest and was asked for several times.
If you are looking for a book that will pull at your heart strings, this one won’t really fill that bill either. Because the story is so simple we don’t ever get the feeling that Thumper is missing his family or that he should have stayed at home. He just goes and sees a couple of other animals and then is home again. Rather flat, even for a young child’s book.
I think that illustrations are what really make this an interesting book. They have a 3D feel to them and the charm that Disney has put in to the 14 pages of this brief story is enough to hold any toddlers attention, at least for a few minutes.
While I didn’t love this book the children seemed to and since it is aimed at them I do have to recommend it for young children.
Nuts & Bolts
Goodnight, Thumper is a part of the Disney Bunnies series and was published by Disney Press in 2007.
Kitty Richards wrote this book while illustrators Lori Tyminksi and Dean Gordon created the wonderful illustrations.
This 6” x 6” boardbook has a jacket price of $5.99 US and $7.99 CAN and is recommended for infants through preschoolers.
ISBN: 1423100778
This book, along with others is a part of the Fight Illiteracy Write-Off sponsored by Cindy and Stefanie. Please read more about it here, and consider joining in as well!
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