Goodnight Opus

I adore this book! Both charming and mesmerizing, Berkeley Breathed has created an endearing bedtime story for his greatest creation, Opus. Even at 30 years old, I can still sit down on any given night, and take 10 minutes out of my evening to be swept away to the marvelous Milky Way and remind myself that sometimes, it is perfectly normal and quite a bit of fun to depart from the text, even if just for awhile.

I love all books by Berkeley Breathed, and this one is no different, but for me, an aspiring writer and addicted reader, this had special meaning. The whole concept of going beyond the page and into your own head and beyond really spoke to so much of my experience with books and literature. I've been reliving my books this way for most of my life.

In my opinion this was a great book. In the story Opus' grandmother is reading him his favorite bedtime story for the 210th time. She always tell Opus to follow what is in his sight, but when she falls asleep while reading the story Opus steps out of his sight and is amazed at what he finds. He finds a "big-nosed blue-footed biped" under his bed and they go on a journey through the story which includes going to the Milky Way, running into the Tooth Fairy, , and swimming in the National Mall with Abraham Lincoln. I love the illustrations in this story because they are so realistic. There is one picture of Abraham Lincoln holding his nose and jumping into the National Mall. In this picture Abraham Lincoln looks just like the famous statue show more of Lincoln in DC. The way the shadowing is done makes the figure look like a real piece of marble. The point of view of the story is in first person. It makes the most sense that the story is told from the first person point of view because Opus is telling you all about his journey and you aren't hearing it second hand. When he talks about going swimming with Abraham Lincoln he says, "I then asked, 'would you most like to do?'" I feel like children reading this book would enjoy listening to Opus himself ask Lincoln what he would like to do rather than hearing about Opus asked Lincoln from another point of view. The main point of this story is to look beyond your sight and what is in front of you. There is a whole other world out there to see. Also, look beyond your sight and use your imagination because your imagination will also open your eyes to a whole new world. show less

I miss the old art style, but this definitely had entertaining moments.

Opus is listening to the same (boring) story he's heard zillions of times before when he departs from the text, in quite a spectacular way - flying through the milky way, going diving with Abe Lincoln's statue, nearly crashing into an airplane...!

It does go on and on for a while. Not for kiddos with short attention spans.

A wonderful and funny children's book by the creator of "Bloom County", featuring Opus in a charming story that tells the importance of allowing oneself to be carried away once in a while. Lovely fantastic illustrations and a nice rhyming text.

Excellent book. I've been a Berkeley Breathed fan since his Bloom County days, and this book did not fail to deliver. It felt like I was sharing something from my younger days with my own young one.
It was great fun to read!