Goodnight Moon is a classic 1947 bedtime story written by Margaret Wise Brown. While it is a favorite in households across the country and libraries worldwide, that wasn't the case for one New York librarian, the late Anne Carroll Moore.
It's difficult to imagine a librarian disliking Goodnight Moon, let alone hating it, but Moore stood strongly by her belief that the book wasn’t well written, and her influence kept it off the shelves of the New York Public Library for 25 years.
The Literary Impact of 'Goodnight Moon'
Goodnight Moon isn't just a great children's story — it's a cultural phenomenon as far as books are concerned. It's as common on bookshelves across the country as hot dogs are at baseball games across America.
In 2012, it was ranked No. 4 among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a School Library Journal survey.
Then, in 2017, a survey by the National Education Association voted it as one of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".
These are just a few of the many awards and accolades given to Goodnight Moon for its place in the hearts of families across the country.
The Librarian Who Banned 'Goodnight Moon'
From 1947, when Goodnight Moon was first published, until 1972, the New York Public Library banned the book.
Why?
The head children's librarian, Anne Carroll Moore, simply hated it.
Moore developed the idea of a children's library and ran the New York Public Library children's section for 35 years. It was her idea of a children's library that influenced the industry, and many other librarians would look to her for her opinion on children's literature. She was indeed a tastemaker in children's books, and her opinion held great weight.
A Stylistic Difference
Anne Carroll Moore and Goodnight Moon author Margaret Wise Brown did meet at one point. It's said that they disagreed regarding the style a children's book should have.
Brown believed in rhyme and speaking to children in their own language while operating at the level a child could understand. On the other hand, Moore believed children's books should be written as fairy tales and fables. She thought that by writing above a child's level, they were provided with a better quality literary experience.
It’s likely that this difference in opinion led to Moore forming a strong distaste for Goodnight Moon.
New York Public Library Controversy
In 2020, the New York Public Library released its list of top 10 checkouts of all time in honor of its 125th anniversary.
According to the NYPL website, experts examined various factors related to book checkout, including but not limited to "historic checkout and circulation data (for all formats, including e-books), overall trends, current events, popularity, length of time in print, and presence in the Library catalog."
While Goodnight Moon is one of the best-selling children's books of all time, it only scored an honorable mention on the Top 10 NYPL Checkouts of All Time list.
It's believed that had it not been off the shelves until 1972, it would have made the list.
Books That Did Make the Top 10 List
Although Goodnight Moon was absent from the top 10, all books on the list are certainly classics in their own right. Quite a few are popular children's books, including:
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
- Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Here's the complete list, including the number of checkouts on record:
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats with 485,583 checkouts
- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss with 469,650 checkouts
- 1984 by George Orwell with 441,770 checkouts
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak with 436,016 checkouts
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee with 422,912 checkouts
- Charlotte's Web by E.B. White with 337,948 checkouts
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury with 316,404 checkouts
- How To Win Friends and Influence People By Dale Carnegie with 284,524 checkouts
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling with 231,022 checkouts
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle with 189,550 checkouts
