As you can probably tell by the number of books I review, we love to read! Little M and I read all day long, but my favorite time to read is probably right before bed.

It’s so sweet to snuggle together and curl up with one or two (or five!) good books. Although we read all kinds of books at bedtime, here are some of our newest favorites that are sure to delight your little ones with their soothing, lilting prose and beautiful illustrations.

In Rock-A-Bye Room (written by Susan Meyers and illustrated by Amy Bates), a mother sings her daughter to bed as they say good night to all the items in her room, from a teddy bear, a pillow, dolls, a rocking horse and a blanket. The rockabilly prose and and gorgeous illustrations are a refreshing take on classic bedtime tales.

Good Night, Mouse (by Jed Henry) tells the story of a cute little mouse who gets a lot of help from his friends when it is time for bed. All of the woodland creatures have their own opinions about how to settle mouse to sleep, from a bath, a snack, a cuddle, and a lullaby. But what will finally get little mouse to sleep?

While Cub’s Big World (written by Sarah Thomson and illustrated by Joe Cepeda) is not technically a book about bedtime, it is one of the sweetest books we have read in a long time and the comforting story is perfect to read while cuddling with your little ones. In this lovely book, a polar bear cub ventures out of her safe den into the big, BIG world after a long hibernation with her mother. When she can’t find her mom (who is still nearby), cub looks for her familiar black nose in the vast Arctic wilderness. Can she be brave without her mother around? The touching ending shows mom reunited with cub and her reassurance that she will always be close by.