Goodnight, Little Dancer

It’s bedtime for two little dancers (a brother and sister), who stretch to wind down and reach through their arabesques to turn out the light. Folding their tutus and putting their slippers away, the siblings say goodnight to the mirrors and barre to rest their dancer bodies for the night. As they lay in bed, they think through their dance steps to lull themselves to sleep, dreaming of “pirouetting on moonbeams.” Adams’ omniscient narrator, while not depicted, sounds parental in their instructions for their “little darling dancer” to go to bed and “twirl your way into your dreams.” The illustrations in Marley’s unique and lovely style boast a warm color palette. Shadows have descended in the rooms of the house, with calm light emanating from the lightbulbs and starry twinkle lights in the bedroom (which are beautifully transformed into white, pink, and blue stars in the dancers’ dreams). The siblings’ movements of pointed toes, lengthened arms, and delightful dance moves radiate through the the story with a graceful tone, with dapples of rhyme distributed through its pages. While light on text, the sweet illustrations and the inclusion of both the girl and boy dancers make this gender-neutral bedtime book a perfect choice for little ballerinas, though non-dancers might lose interest.