The moon is high. The sea is deep.
They rock
and rock
and rock
to sleep.

It closes with the animals settling down for the night: "They rock and rock and rock to sleep." Graced by Boynton's well-known illustrations and rhythmic, lullabye-like poetry, this is a great book for infants and toddlers alike. It's one of those books you'll keep long after the kid(s) grow up.


A lovely MEMORY maker!   September 6, 2000
 60 out of 67 found this review helpful

Tonight while surfing through amazon I stumbled upon Sandra Boynton. Remembering how fond my children were of her board books when they were toddlers, I read a few of the reviews. I laughed and cried thinking about how frequently "The Going To Bed Book" was read in our household and how IMPORTANT it became in our bedtime ritual. Out of curiosity I pulled the old book from our library shelves and went to my kids, now 15, 12 and 9 and began to recite a few lines. *NOTE - I didn't actually NEED the book in order to do this. To my delight each of them perked up, smiled and began to chant the lines right along with me. They remembered the characters, the words, the way we used to read the story. You see, for them the memories of this book are wonderful as well!

Sandra Boynton is gifted at coupling wonderful, readable verse with delightful illustration. Don't miss this book and don't hesitiate to purchase others from her collection. We have HUNDREDS of read aloud childrens books in this house. This ranks right up there with the absolute favorites and should be IMHO amongst the first books read to a cherished babe.

P.S. Don't miss "Doggies" either! If you read this one with FEELING they'll be begging for it time and again!


Excellent   December 6, 1999
 45 out of 51 found this review helpful

After reading all of the positive reviews here, I decided to order this book for my two year old son, who loves to read. I must admit, I probably would never have picked it out, but my son absolutely loves it! Everytime we finish reading it, he says, "Mommy, read again." I recommend it to anyone who has a little reader at home.


This is a bedtime MUST!   August 24, 1998
 26 out of 26 found this review helpful

My 17 month old daughter Diana absolutely adores this book, as does her 31 year old mother! It has a remarkably calming effect on her when she's all wound up at the end of the day, and fighting sleep as children her age are wont to do. The wonderful rhythm of the words is soothing, and easy for her to understand. She has begun "reading" along with me, and it's delightful to actually witness her learning. Thank you, Sandra Boynton, for putting your remarkable talent towards such a wonderful thing as children's books!!!


Cute but confusing   July 23, 2001
 21 out of 32 found this review helpful

I love Sandra Boynton's books for their sing-song verse and adorable illustrations; but my 14-month-old loves only some of them. This one is a bit confusing for her, I believe. Just when her vocabulary is taking off, this book hits her with some animals that even I can't positively identify. The animals are on a boat, which doesn't make sense out of context. After bathing and just before bed, they engage in vigorous exercise, for some reason. The book seems to present a bedtime routine and seems designed to read to your child during his/her bedtime routine, but I'm finally deciding we're better off shelving this one until it can at least invoke a couple of giggles from my toddler, if not genuine understanding.