Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

by Melanie Bettinelli on November 01, 2011


Melissa Wiley recently blogged about this book and I just knew I’d have to get it because, like Lissa, I have a truck-crazy two year-old boy. But it’s not just Ben who has been asking for this book to be read since we brought it home from the library. The girls are just as crazy about it as Ben is.

One night recently after donning her pajamas Bella put her dirty clothes on her back and pretended to be a dump truck as she carried them to the laundry room. Soon she had recruited Sophie and Ben and they were all cleaning up the living room, pretending to be dump trucks and bulldozers and excavators. All with no prompting from either me or Dom. It was a minor miracle.

This has become our new go-to trick for nights when the tired children balk at cleaning up their toys at the end of the day. It’‘s not infallible; but it has worked on a few different occasions. There are few things that make me happier than watching a little crew of children using their imaginations to help them perform an unwelcome chore.

I suppose our kids have had a long love affair with construction equipment. I recall that both Bella and Sophie were captivated by the construction equipment when they replaced the water mains in front of our house two years ago. At that time I went to the library looking for books to teach us the names of all the big trucks we saw. They gobbled those books up and everything I’ve found since. But I’ve never found anything that really charmed my eyes and ears among all those boring factual books. (Although The Lot At the End of My Block has won the hearts of my crew, I get a bit tired of all the repetition.)

In any case Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site is a perfect bedtime story for children who love construction equipment. There is the sweet rhyming text that falls into the perfect rhythm as each truck goes through its paces and then settles in for the night. And then there are the simply dreamy pictures, that give each truck a lot of character. They are dynamic and yet also soft and dreamy. (My favorite is the crane who goes to sleep with a teddy bear and a star hung from the end of his hook.)

Yes this one is definitely a winner. Shhh…. don’t tell but I think someone may be getting it for Christmas.

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Comments

Sounds like it needs to be an addition to our book collection!

Posted by Kristen @ St Monica's Bridge  on  11/1/11  at  03:36 PM

Hi—found your blog via The Anchoress.  When I saw the name, I thought, “I’ll bet she went to the University of Dallas.”  Did a search and found that you did.  So funny.  I’m an UD English grad (1988) with an M.Phil. in Anglo Irish Lit from Trinity in Dublin.  I’m putting your blog on my favorites list and looking forward to reading a fellow UD alum.grin

Posted by colleen  on  11/1/11  at  06:44 PM

I should put this on Paul’s Christmas list!

Posted by Dwija  on  11/1/11  at  08:26 PM

Hi, Melanie,

Thank you so much for your touching (and funny!) review of my book! I’m so thrilled that your children are ALL enjoying it so much.

I wrote the book for my youngest son, who is also a truck-crazy kid. I’m pleased to know that it’s striking a chord with other families as well.

With gratitude,
Sherri Duskey Rinker
Author, Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site

Posted by Sherri Duskey Rinker  on  11/1/11  at  10:19 PM

Kristen and Dwija, Yes, this is definitely going under the Bettinelli Christmas tree.

Colleen, Hooray for UD English Majors! Please do drop by often.

Sherri, Thank you for stopping by. I’m a bit embarrassed because I accidentally posted an unfinished rough draft of a review rather than a finished piece.

Posted by Melanie Bettinelli  on  11/2/11  at  12:22 AM

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