Book Review: "Good Night, Seattle" by Jay Steere

     During our recent family trip to Seattle, Washington, we were able to find souvenirs for our older children, but we found it harder to locate a good momento for our baby, who is almost a toddler.  We could have spent almost $20 on a t-shirt that would be outgrown in a couple of months, or on a bib that would be stained after a few uses but . . .  surely we could do better!

      At various attractions throughout Seattle, I perused the gift shops in hopes of finding a good board book for her.  She loves to read, so we're always on the look out!  There was a cute story about mermaids!  You could touch the mermaid's soft blonde hair and feel her scaly, textured pink tail.  I set it on her stroller tray, and she fooled with it with disinterest, and tossed it aside.  Finally, my sister-in-law found a little shelf off to the side, which held several copies of "Good Night, Seattle".  

     The baby was very interested when I placed this book on her tray.  No bells and whistles, no textured pages, no buttons to push.  Just a simple board book -- her favorite!  What makes this one so much fun is that it highlights many of the tourist attractions we visited while we were there.  Our older kids love to read it to their little sister, because it helps them remember some of the cool sights we saw, too!

     Our daughter enjoys this as a pleasant bedtime story, just right to settle her in for the night.  The book starts out with morning adventures, and then the day progresses.  As evening draws in, local families head home and get settled in for the night themselves, creating the perfect calming down after a little one's busy day.

     The book is written by Jay Steere, with illustrations by Joe Veno.  It was produced and designed by Adam Gamble.  The cost was $9.95 ($10.95 in Canada), and it is well worth the purchase price!  This book is part of the "Good Night Our World" series, which can be found at http://www.goodnightourworld.com online.  ISBN-13: 978-1-60219-014-6 and ISBN-10: 1-60219-014-3.

     The illustrations are well done and detailed, but kept simple enough to engage a very young child.  Seattle's downtown skyline is very colorful, despite the often gray skies, and the book captured this very well.  I thought the airplanes illustrated from The Museum of Flight were very accurately done.  This was not guesswork -- a lot of thought and work went into the making of this book so that kids (and parents) could recognize popular landmarks.

     I felt this was well researched for a baby book and am eager to see if there are books that focus on other cities we have visited!