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Good Night, Little Bookstore

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Part lullaby, part love song, this perfectly pitched bedtime book gives a nod to its classic predecessors as it champions the vibrant independent spirit of local bookstores.

Join the Little Bookstore’s friendly staff as they draw the curtain on another busy day of browsing and matchmaking. Choose a bedtime story, say your good nights, and pet the shop’s feline mascot on your way out. Snuggle up to a loved one for a read-aloud, then drift off to sweet dreams of adventure and enchantment to come. Drawing on the best tradition of classic bedtime books, Amy Cherrix’s lilting text brims with sound play, soothing patterns, and repetition, while E. B. Goodale’s bright, inclusive artwork offers people-watching at its best, conjuring the bustling, ineffable mood of a homespun hall of treasures. Penned by a bookseller and illustrated with warmth and zeal, this cozy homage to the neighborhood bookshop ends with a gallery of bookstores around the world, encouraging local engagement and offering a gentle reminder that books are gifts that keep giving, the most comforting treasure of all.

32 pages, Hardcover

Published September 13, 2022

3 people are currently reading
171 people want to read

About the author

Amy Cherrix

10 books19 followers

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5 stars
155 (44%)
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147 (41%)
3 stars
46 (13%)
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3 (<1%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
Profile Image for Sheri.
1,363 reviews126 followers
November 26, 2022
A charming book that envelops readers and bookstores in a warm and mutual hug. The smallest detail does not go unnoticed in this cozy and inviting bookstore. The sights and sounds of the shop provide a calm and certain order in an otherwise unpredictable world and welcome us to stay and linger, enjoying literary treasures and charming sensory delights. A pleasing read, light on text, but full of warmth and contentment, encompassing all that we love about our neighborhood bookstore.
Profile Image for Rachel Brown.
927 reviews18 followers
October 6, 2022
I picked up this darling children’s book for my middle daughter at Parnassus Books in Nashville, and I am totally smitten! The illustrations are delightful, and I love the way this sweet little story champions independent bookstores. I’ll be purchasing more copies as gifts for years to come!
Profile Image for Kiera Beddes.
1,106 reviews21 followers
December 15, 2022
A love poem to indie bookstores and readers of every shape and size, Good Night Little Bookstore follows the end of day process for a little bookshop on a neighborhood corner. The book is clearly a pastiche, not a parody, of the classic Goodnight Moon. It’s a lovely little homage and I loved the multicultural and inclusive community illustrated throughout the story. I don’t know how useful it could be in a school library, but it does celebrate books and the people who read them, so it could be very happy on any reader’s shelf.
Profile Image for (M)Sharahyah.
57 reviews1 follower
June 21, 2025
Oh how Good Night, Little Bookstore tugs at my quaint little local bookstore heart! The illustrations are lovely and colorful yet calm enough for a bedtime story. The ending encourages a global connection. I could read this again and again.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
894 reviews
January 3, 2023
An adorable ode to everything that makes a bookstore, well, a bookstore. Great for the little book lovers in your life, or big kids you know who can’t help but wander into every bookstore they pass by.
Profile Image for Kaethe.
6,572 reviews531 followers
December 18, 2022
Awww. Very sweet, in evoking independent bookstores, diverse popularions, and walkable urban neighborhoods. And there's a bookstore cat, of which I approve even as I know that allergies can be devastating.
I had some quibbles with the illustrations (the onomotopeia repeated from the text to the illustrations throws off the rhythm), but the pair with the light on and off is brilliant.

Library copy
Profile Image for Andrew.
2,344 reviews71 followers
February 8, 2023
Told in simplistic couplets on opposite pages, featuring diversified illustrations by E.B. Goodale, Amy Cherrix (an independent bookstore person herself), gives a fun bedtime story for the daily closing of an independent bookstore.

Support your local public libraries and small/independent bookstores!
Profile Image for Paulette.
924 reviews2 followers
December 7, 2022
This was very adorable, and very cute! I'm always glad to have books about books and/or bookstores/libraries.
Profile Image for Audrey.
1,400 reviews56 followers
December 28, 2022
Sweet book about a neighborhood bookstore
Profile Image for Tim.
Author 8 books49 followers
October 10, 2022
How many nights did I close Wordsworth in Harvard Square and Books & Co. in Dayton and Joseph Beth in Cincinnati and Lexington? Just like this :-)
Profile Image for Kristine.
461 reviews11 followers
October 27, 2022
The illustrations are absolutely what bring this book to life, but it's a charming love letter to bookstores!
Profile Image for RinTinTin.
128 reviews18 followers
November 24, 2022
Sweet tribute to independent bookstores everywhere. I love the tone and style of the illustrations and how it imbues the joy of reading and exploring little bookstores everywhere <3
Profile Image for Hannah.
Author 6 books240 followers
Read
July 9, 2022
Here af for all the cute easter egg nods to real picture book authors and illustrators, like William Steig (Brave Irene becomes Courageous Eileen and Oge Mora (Saturday becomes Sunday). I love the smudgy pencil quality of the illustrations. I like that the rhyme is simple and that the pandering to adult readers doesn't outweigh the thoughtful, sweet poem for child readers or listeners.
Profile Image for Krystal Failey.
55 reviews1 follower
October 23, 2022
Cute book with great illustration. This is a great book for 2nd graders to read on their own or with a little help, as the text it fairly simple.

The story itself is good for children 2-5 years old. It has a warm cozy feel to it and it's a very fast read.
Profile Image for Olivia.
3,763 reviews99 followers
Read
November 16, 2022
See my full review here: https://www.yabookscentral.com/good-n...

GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE BOOKSTORE is a lovely and clever bedtime book that focuses on the end of the day for a bookstore. The story includes a rhyme of saying goodbye to things and people around the store, such as the bookstore cat, the picture books facing out, and so much more. At the end of the book, it also says goodnight to the reader.

What I loved: This is such an elegant and sweet bedtime book, perfect for little booklovers. The rhyme is perfectly paced with a good rhythm throughout that makes it fun to read aloud and for little ears to hear. It really rolls off the tongue with its steady pace, a soothing read for night time. The illustrations are lovely and lush with muted colors that are also calming. The books and special feeling of the store are captured throughout with some key shoppers and the adorable cat. The length is great for toddlers and preschoolers, with pages that turn quickly and seems just right.

The text is printed at the bottom of the page in a larger font in black on a cream background that makes it easy to read at nighttime. This is really helpful for a book that is made to aid with sleep! It's also restful for the reader as there is no searching around for text on each page turn - one that caregivers can enjoy reading as much as children enjoy hearing it.

Final verdict: A lovely bedtime story, GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE BOOKSTORE is a sweet picture book featuring smooth rhymes, lovely illustrations, and a soothing format. Recommend for toddler ages and older!
Profile Image for Kelly.
318 reviews40 followers
December 8, 2022
This is a sweet rhyming children's book, but the lovely bookstore doesn't match my own bookstore working experience, so I wrote my own spoof.

GOODNIGHT BIG BOOKSTORE

Goodnight laggers that made me stay late
While they counted out pennies “six … seven … eight …”

Goodnight children who climb up the shelves
Goodnight parents, absorbed in themselves

Goodnight jokesters who exclaim with such glee
“If the book doesn’t scan, does that mean it’s free?”

Goodnight lady with the romance addiction
Goodnight creeper who was banned from teen fiction

Goodnight people who get mad at you
When they don’t know a title, just that “It’s blue.”

Goodnight cart, groaning under the stack
Of books taken down, but never put back

Goodnight Frappucino, left in aisle two
Goodnight mysterious puddle of goo

Goodnight board games, stickers, and beads
(We have to sell something, ‘cause nobody reads)
Profile Image for Zan Porter.
574 reviews3 followers
February 24, 2023
oin the Little Bookstore's friendly staff as they draw the curtain on another busy day of browsing and matchmaking. Choose a bedtime story, say your good nights, and pet the shop's feline mascot on your way out. Snuggle up to a loved one for a read-aloud, then drift off to sweet dreams of adventure and enchantment to come. Drawing on the best tradition of classic bedtime books, Amy Cherrix's lilting text brims with sound play, soothing patterns, and repetition, while E. B. Goodale's bright, inclusive artwork offers people-watching at its best, conjuring the bustling, ineffable mood of a homespun hall of treasures. Penned by a bookseller and illustrated with warmth and zeal, this cozy homage to the neighborhood bookshop ends with a gallery of bookstores around the world, encouraging local engagement and offering a gentle reminder that books are gifts that keep giving, the most comforting treasure of all
Profile Image for Deke Moulton.
Author 4 books93 followers
October 2, 2025
Very cute and very sweet book on the way which a book seller closes up her shop for the night.

Really enjoyed the diversity, and I really really liked that. The illustrations could clearly show that the bookstore was a beloved part of the community it was in.

One slight translating note, on the second to last page it is showing bookstores being closed around the world. One is in English and Arabic. The Arabic on the page is الكتيب which actually means pamphlets or booklets (which I know the illustrator didn’t want it to say because above the Arabic, it says books in English, which would be الكتب - it’s always frustrating when someone has good intentions and wants to showcase diverse cultures, but still gets the language wrong. Very small problem but sad they couldn’t reach out to an Arabic speaker to double check it? I don’t know about the other bookstores. It appears like they’re in Japanese in Spanish in French and maybe German?)

Profile Image for Brigid Farrell.
27 reviews
June 18, 2023
Charming, cozy. Pastiche of Goodnight Moon. It's not the exact same font (I checked), but the font even reminded me of the one used in Goodnight Moon, I don't know why?

Lots of love for the independent city bookstore with its obviously diverse group of clientele and thier pets. We have the requisite bookstore cat (apparently reminding people with cat allergies to just give up on life and use Amazon) and every customer seems to bring their dog in, city codes be damned.

My personal favorite is the page with all the children's books. The covers are the same but title has changed; how many can you identify?

One of the mediums used for the illustrations was... black tea. Seems about right.

No lexile listed (example new words: register, crisp, dictionary, survival, arrivals, legends, mysteries, comics, teetering, clinks).
Profile Image for Neil Pasricha.
Author 29 books889 followers
May 10, 2023
I remember reading a Monocle ranking of the "Most Liveable Cities" a few years ago and noticing that one of their selection criteria was the number of independent bookstores per person. I love that! And it’s true. Independent bookstores are some kind of ground moss revealing something about the healthy of the local culture and community. And: There aren't enough books recognizing and celebrating this fact. So, for anybody who loves indie bookstores, here's a wonderful visual romp through closing time. I loved all the little things in the drawings -- from the ubiquitous bookstore carts to the ubiquitous bookstore cats. Plus, this sounds weird, but I just love every book I own that is in this tall and sturdy "trim size." (I Am A Bunny fans, you know what I'm saying.)
Profile Image for Candelaria Silva.
Author 4 books9 followers
January 30, 2023
I saw this book at the recently opened Rozzie Bound Bookstore in Roslindale, Massachusetts and got it from the title and the cover art because I love bookstores. I will read this to my youngest granddaughter who has already been to more bookstores than I had as a toddler (bookstores weren't plentiful where I grew up). I wish I had had the idea for this book - that's how much I liked it. The illustrations are wonderful - bright yet soft and very detailed. The only thing I didn't understand was why the author and illustrators photos weren't on the book jackets. I always like seeing photos of the creators of books.
Profile Image for Katt Hansen.
3,856 reviews110 followers
May 10, 2023
This is one of those books that hits right in the feels. Probably in part because I've been blessed to have two bookstores in my life. I miss this quiet routine of closing up at the end of the day. There's something so peaceful and perfect about it. A bookstore going to sleep is a special thing.

This book really captures these feelings. Now I'm all nostalgic for my own bookstore (either of them) and wonder if someday I'd like to give a try for a third time. Who knows, maybe someday.

In the meantime, if you ever want to share in a very special feeling, read this book.
Profile Image for Jeimy.
5,643 reviews32 followers
November 24, 2025
This cozy bedtime book is both a gentle homage to Goodnight Moon and a heartfelt tribute to independent bookstores. As someone who spent their early years working in indie bookshops, I found this story particularly charming. E.B. Goodale’s illustrations warmly capture the bustle and magic of a neighborhood bookstore, and the story unfolds with soothing rhythm and affection. Cat lovers will enjoy the shop’s feline mascot, and book lovers of all ages will appreciate the quiet reminder that local bookstores are havens of wonder and community.
Profile Image for Evelyn.
263 reviews
February 24, 2024
This book is an ode to nightly rituals of a bookstore closing for the night. Includes some of the things done by staff such as: straightening up , doing inventory, and seeing to it that the store cat gets love before the staff leaves. The book then moves on to what is done in the household before children go to sleep , which is cuddle up to a good book probably purchased from the little "independent " bookstore.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

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