The Goodnight Caterpillar: Helping Young Children Improve Sleep, Lower Stress and Control Emotions

This book is a great concept and truly helped my daughter who was having difficulty getting her three-year old daughter to settle down for bed. My daughter was thrilled, as it really works, however, she encountered a problem when her daughter continually became disgruntled by the illustration of the red-haired girl. The three-year old didn't like the illustration of the little girl from the first reading and stated her disapproval. After hearing her out, my daughter encouraged her to enjoy the book regardless of the illustration she disliked. That worked for a while, but as they say, all good things come to an end. One night the granddaughter refused to "look at that girl anymore" even though she likes the story line! UGH! Her adamant refusal to ever look at the book again made me think of the mantra to selling real estate: location, location, location. For children's books that mantra must be illustration, illustration, illustration...Thankfully, the granddaughter now goes to bed with no problem, so we think the book played its rightful and intended role excellently, but my daughter and I both agreed the illustration of the little girl could have been much better.

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure about this book. We've tried *everything* with our reluctant sleeper (age 5) -- to no avail. I was getting very, very desperate for a full night's sleep. I just could not believe that one book would solve the problem, but it is.Night one, he half-listened to the story and half did his own thing. No clear improvement. By night three, he was requesting it as part of his bedtime routine. By night five, he was demanding it. And his sleep is improving. We're down to one or at most two trips out of his room after lights out. Amazingly, most for the bathroom, not for extra snuggles or reassurance that everything is okay from us. He doesn't have bags under his eyes anymore and neither do we.He even asks for it during the day if he feels like he's getting out of control (his phrasing, not mine). It's working for our child because the story is interesting without being too interesting (meaning that he doesn't *have* to see the pictures every single time or get super caught up in the story line) and he focuses on the relaxation part of the reading.This is an excellent introduction to guided relaxation for kids! It's now going to be added to my list of books to give to friends with kids.

So today I reviewed all my Lori Lite books and this book is such a wonderful book. Now when I was buying it I seriously did not belive that my son will fall asleep reading it, just thought it might be something nice to read to him before bed.Now let me tell you something about my son, he does not like to sleep.If possible he will stay awake till 12 at night !! I know it is shocking and then he will wake up early in the morning. How he does it I do not know. So when I read this book, the first night he fell asleep before "his time" ,even before I finished the book. I thought maybe it was a coincidence, after all he did run around a lot that day and maybe he was just tired.However, every night since then he has fallen asleep either before the book has finished or just after I finish reading.This book is magic. I do admit that this book does relax me a little too.Thanks Lori Lite.

This book is really cute and very relaxing. My daughter, who is 3 years old, like it and it seems to calm her down. She doesn't usually fall asleep as I am reading it to her but she will visibly relax. My only critique is that I would prolong the breathing sequence and the relaxing body parts sequence. For the each body part,I have my daughter shake out the part (for arms & legs), let it drift slowly down to the bed, and then repeat the "relax the (part)," several times as her part relaxes. For the ankles/feet/hands, I have her rotate them a few times before resting them down. This seems to work better than just a straight reading of the book.

I have had this book for 1 week. My daughter is 8 y.o. with ADHD and bedtime has been a struggle for a very long time. She found every excuse to get up, sneak to play under covers, anything but sleep. Every night since I've gotten this book, she has been able to relax enough to let herself get sleepy. By the middle of the book she is yawning and by the end of the book she is ready to snuggle up in her own cocoon and say goodnight. Just for good measure, I play a relaxation CD after the story and she doesn't even make it through the first track on the CD. I am VERY pleased with this book and I will be purchasing more from Indigo Dreams.

I love using this book in the classroom when teaching mindfulness. Children are told, all the time, to relax. If you actually ask a child what that means, you may be surprised that they actually don’t know! Most children are not taught how to relax their body and what that feels like. This book does a great job explaining this concept to kids in a fun and engaging way. Highly recommend!

I saw this children's book line on Shark Tank and thought my 5 year old granddaughter who has trouble going to sleep at my house might like this. The first time I read it to her at bedtime, she asked questions to understand "the story". Since then I have read it to her about 8 times at bedtime. Every time, she rolls over and goes to sleep before I finish. I can feel her relaxing next to me. This has changed a 2 hour bedtime drama at grandma's into an enjoyable 10 minute routine. I was skeptical when I decided to try it, but I am a believer now.

this is one of my favorite books!!! helps my kids to relax and helps me (as a adult) to calm down as well! my son was having some nightmares and I’m so happy I found this awesome book!!!

Flimsy book. Expected hard cover for price story was decent . That is about all I can say for now.

A delightful relaxing book both my girls (6yrs and 2yrs) enjoyed and both interacted well with the story. They did appear more relaxed and peaceful going to sleep. The bonus that I too relaxed while reading it. Highly recommend.

The illustrations are not great and my daughter found the story very boring. Perhaps kids who are less active will enjoy it but the point of the book was to relax what I am assuming are anxious and or active kids....a waste.