Good Night Engines

by Denise Dowling Mortensen, Melissa Iwai (Illustrator)

In this rhyming bedtime book, vehicles wind down for the night and roll off to bed. Luminous paintings depict a little boy playing with toy engines in his bedroom, and life-sized engines in the outside world. The soothing text and large, up-close pictures of vehicles such as trucks, planes, and fire engines will make this a favorite bedtime or naptime story for little ones who are fascinated with things that go. The Spanish and English texts are set in two different colors for easy readability.  

Genres: Picture Books, Transport, Childrens, Storytime, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 2003

About the author

Denise Dowling Mortensen is the author of five picture books: Good Night Engines, Wake Up Engines, a board book/flip book of both Good Night Engines and Wake Up Engines, Ohio Thunder and Bug Patrol (all published by HMHCO). While listening to bedtime stories as a young girl she developed a passion for words, especially lyrical verse.

She studied Journalism in college and went on to work at CBS News and the Conde Nast Publications. While raising her five children, she freelanced as a copy editor and proofreader. When her youngest child was a baby, she began writing books for young children.

Now, when she's not writing, reading, painting, drawing, eating ice cream, or traveling, she works as a special education assistant in the district office of a local public school district. She lives in a suburb of Chicago.

Reviews

[Brandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 2 year old is obsessed with trains, planes, cars, trucks - and this has it all. We love this book. And when the momma kisses the boy in teh book, I have to kiss him too!
The only thing is that in some illustrations, the train is off the track and on the windowsill - he is SO bothered by this. He keeps asking me to put the train back on the track "Fix it momma!" I think it's sort of cute and his own little OCD quirk coming through!

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

My complete love for this book stems mainly from the fact that my little boy falls asleep with cars in his hands each night. I'm sentimental. This book feeds that sentimentality for me and my son loves it. A perfect book in my mind.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a little boy is preparing for bed, he quiets and parks all his engine toys - train, plane, cars, fire engine, big trucks - using his imagination. Lovely illustrations.

[M. Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good night engines.

Simple rhyme and illustration. A few words, an inspiration.
Easy read, my boy liked. We read it every night.
Quiet ending, and he asleep. I laid him down without a peep.
Turn off motor, switch off light. Tired engine... say good night.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book for preschoolers and younger. The illustrations are adorable and the simple language was easily repeatable my my 3 yr olds. No educational value except for reading and instilling the love of books in your child! Highly recommended for the smaller children.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gently lulls sleepy children down as a variety of transportation types go to sleep. Our little guy in love with anything with wheels really identifies with it and the text has a great rhythm.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every family with little boys must own this book! Easily one of our favorites.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

We had to buy this one when my son went into mourning when we took the library book after the renewal ran out. Great bedtime story with lovely illustrations.

[Abby Peskin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for a young child, ages 2 or 3 about getting their toys ready for bed. A little kid puts all of his vehicles to bed by flying them to where they park and the pictures alternate between the child playing with toys and the real life version of those vehicles parking for the night. Then at the end the child goes to bed as well. The rhyming text makes the book engaging as well.

[Kristen Thorp · Rating 4 out of 5]

94/365

[Erin Sidorchuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite

We like trucks and cars and trains but this isn't our favorite good night book for our 3 yr old.

[Shawn L’s Book Notes & Quotes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very reminiscent of “Steam Train, Dream Train”

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages 2 and up. An ode to love of things with wheels shared by so many preschoolers, featuring an Asian child as the protagonist. A companion book to Wake Up Engines.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Night Engines by Denise Dowling Mortensen, illustrated by Melissa Iwai is an imaginative look at a boy who puts his toys to sleep as real vehicles also rest.

Owai's illustrations were executed in acrylic paint. I really liked the sunsets featured as night approached. My favorite images are verso, crossing river, engines in a row, downward, resting, off motor, and final image.

I really enjoyed this clever combination of toys and real vehicles coming to rest at night. Carefully crafted verse is well matcheed to the detailed illustrations alternating toys with working vehicles. The large font makes this a good choice as a beginning reader as well as a read-aloud perfect for putting vehicle-loving little boys to sleep. Recommended for school and public library collections. 4 stars.

For ages 3.5 to 6, vehicles, things that go, transportation, bedtime, rhymes, toys, and fans of Denise Dowling Mortensen and Melissa Iwai.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trains, Trucks, Airplanes, Firetrucks...everything any little boy or girl that loves transportation looks for in a goodnight book. The trains "wheels at rest." The plane is "Grinding. Stopping. Resting." The firetruck is "safe at home." As all the various vehicles chug home, turn off, and shut down a little boy also gets ready for bed. Iwai's soft paintings perfectly illustrate a child's play paralleled with real life vehicles ending their day. The lyrical language of Mortensen gently draws the day to the end for all truck lovers.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and its companion book, Wake Up Engines, are both really cute. The illustrations are charming and there are fun details, like the blocks spelling "DOZE" or the trucks featuring slogans about sleep. My son loves looking at trucks, planes, cars, etc., so he's very happy with this library pick. My only complaint is that the poem--which flows well and is nice to read aloud--doesn't typically tell you what type of vehicle you are looking at, so I had to add in my own ad libbed commentary to label the trains, garbage trucks, buses, and so on.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a child puts away their toys (train, fire engine, plane, etc.) we see trains, fire engines, planes, semis, and cars in the "real" world park for the night.

Nice rhyming text. Not a direct translation between Spanish and English because of the rhyming text. Both seemed fine, though.

The version I read was a small board book and the font was maybe too small for my comfort?

Pair with Wake Up Engines.

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute idea of comparing what's happening in the real world with planes, trains, and trucks with a little boy winding down from playing with his toys. I'm not sure a young child follows what the author was trying to show here, but my boy liked it well enough (though I'm not sure if he'll ask for it again!) and I sure liked the picture of the small sleeping boy clutching his toy car in his sleep at the end. My two year old can definitely relate to sleeping with cars!

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rhyming verses describe how a variety of vehicles, from locomotives to eighteen-wheelers to automobiles, wind down for a night of rest.

[Brandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quiet bedtime story of vehicles, a small boy, and his toys settling in for a night's sleep.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4* art
4* rhyme

Love the move back and forth between the boy's toy engines and how he sees them in his imagination. A great bed-time calm-down book.

[Suzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures. Great for the transportation lover!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for storytime, rhyming, short

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

May 2016 - all different kinds of vehicles go to bed, real ones and toys. Good for enthusiasts, forgettable for the rest of us.

[Eliot Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite

[Miss Janis the Storytime Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

fine