Goodnight Bush

Remember Goodnight Moon?  My son loved it.  We carried a dog eared copy around for years.  We even recited it together in the car (pre DVD days) on long trips, resulting in a sleeping little boy.  I bought it for my first grandchild as I thought the reading of this book was required.   Remember all the detail in the pictures? the rhythmn of the words?  Remember how the pictures changed subtly from one page to the next and how reality was suspended?  Little did I know I was being prepared for the Bush Administration.

Wednesday night is Knit Night which is always a highlight of my week so yesterday was no exception.  Afterwards I usually do some grocery shopping as we meet at Wegmans.  One of the first things I check out are the magazines and books.  Last night I was stopped in my tracks by this one.

Huh? Well I picked it right up and looked quickly through the book knowing almost immediately Goodnight Bush was coming home with me. This is an unauthorized parody by Erich Origen and Gan Golan.  It was published by Little, Brown and Company so I also know which publishing house I will try to buy from in the future.

The two authors had to have been thinking about this for quite some time as the words and illustrations are first rate and bitingly funny. They state in the afterword that King George was born one year before the first publication of Goodnight Moon and that he and his family venerate this book to even having the room created in gingerbread miniature for his first White House Christmas.  "Bush himself, while campaigning, referred to Goodnight Moon as one of his childhood favorites (along with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was not actually published until one year after Bush graduated from college; the president's infancy was clearly an extended one.)"

In the situation room

There was a toy world

And a flight costume

And a picture of-

Get this book. You will laugh. You will wonder at ourselves but also you will definitely be entertained and impressed by the words, the pictures and the sharp insight.