Review: Just One More Thing...And Then Bedtime

Just One More Thing... And Then Bedtime

written and illustrated by Menahem Halberstadt, translated by Romy Ronen

Green Bean Books, 2023

Category: Picture Books

Reviewer: Naomi Morse

Buy at Bookshop.org

Toddler Naomi is delaying her bedtime, telling her father there is just one more thing she is thankful for. Some of her examples are far fetched: she’s glad she has two legs and not three, and she’s glad the moon is in the sky, and not down on the ground.There are more conventional thanks too: various colors and sounds, the rest day of Shabbat.

Her dad looks harried as he tries to put her to bed. There’s a baby sibling in the picture too, and according to the illustrations, dad is the first to fall asleep. Colored drawings show cartoon-like children and their dad at the end of the day. The color red predominates. Illustrations and text present a lighthearted look at the blessing of gratitude for the world God created. Some families and teachers may find this reminder to be thankful to be a useful addition to other good night books.

The dedication page shows the Hebrew blessing thanking God for the wonders of nature. Gratitude is the Jewish value expressed in this children’s good night book. The tone is lighthearted, as dad listens to his daughter telling him just one more thing she’s thankful for.

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Reviewer Naomi Morse was head of the Children’s Room at Montgomery County, Maryland’s White Oak Library for many years. She followed that by managing the lower School Children’s Library at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. She has served on AJL’s Sydney Taylor Committee, and in 2008, was a member of ALA’s Caldecott Committee. She is now a retired independent book reviewer, painter and writer.