Though kids are out running around in the summer weather, splashing in pools and oceans, the days are long and it is tough to convince them it is bedtime when it is still light outside. It’s no accident that Go the F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach sold millions. (Do not read to your child.)

For my money though, the great green room in Goodnight Moon is the most soothing place ever imagined. The story, of course, is a simple one about a bunny who is trying to postpone bedtime. The first half of the book introduces us to the great green room and all its objects: the telephone and the red balloon, the kittens and mittens, the comb and brush. In the second half we bid goodnight to all the objects starting with “goodnight room.”  It is not all repetition though; for example, there is the wonderful little gem of surprise: “goodnight nobody, goodnight mush.” Margaret Wise Brown gets it all right: the palate, the calm, and the rhythm.

Here are five more bedtime books that capture winding down, getting those little eyes to close and little ones to drift off to sleep.

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendack

The story follows Mickey as he floats through the story in a dream that takes place in a baker’s kitchen.

Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

The nearly wordless tale of a naughty monkey releasing the zoo animals just as the Zookeeper bids them goodnight. Just enough comedy to keep interest, but not enough to rile anyone up.

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker

If you have a truck lover, this is the book for you. It includes a crane truck, cement mixer, bulldozer, and an excavator.

The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

Every animal you can imagine performing his or her unique bedtime ritual and heading off to sleep.

Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book

Though this one is a bit longer, the creatures and their particular sleeping habits are sure to help your child enjoy winding down in bed, and there is plenty of yawing to induce the inevitable.