10 Best Books to Help Your Child Fall Asleep (You Can Thank Us Later)

Goodnight Moon

Children need calming reads before they turn out the lights, according to Rebecca Bevans, PhD, psychology professor at Southern New Hampshire University. She suggests avoiding action and adventure and going for something a little more soothing to avoid activating your child’s imagination or stirring up feelings of anxiousness. Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, is a read so classic that many of us have fond memories of listening to our parents read it as we drifted off to sleep. Published in 1947, this short book is the perfect sleepy time read because it features a little bunny telling everything around him ‘goodnight’ before heading off to bed. Here’s what the bedrooms of good sleepers have in common.