“Goodnight Moon”: 75 years of gentle companionship and commemoration

In the bright starry sky of children’s literature, there is a picture book that seems ordinary but extremely shining. It has no fantasy adventures, no heroic princes, but it accompanies generations of children into sweet dreams in the most simple way. This is “Goodnight Moon”, which has been popular all over the world in more than 20 languages ​​for 75 years and has sold more than 40 million copies.

On September 3, 1947, “Goodnight Moon”, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, was officially published. The warm “Big Green Room” in the book creates a bedtime ritual full of security through the bunny’s farewell to each item before going to bed – red balloons, chairs for the three little bears, kittens, gloves, and the clock and comb on the wall. This simple and repetitive rhythm contains a magical soothing power.

In 2025, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the publication of this classic picture book, the United States Postal Service (USPS) specially launched the “Goodnight Moon” commemorative stamp set. This set of stamps perfectly reproduces 8 classic illustrations of the original book, including:

Green room panorama

Bounce bunny close-up

Fireplace and red balloon

Three bears’ chairs

And other iconic scenes. The stamps are printed with special luminous ink, and the words “Goodnight” can be seen glowing slightly in the dark.

Children’s book author Tatch Hurd (son of Clement Hurd) commented: “It is touching that my father’s work can continue to live through stamps. Stamps are like miniature picture books, conveying this bedtime warmth to all parts of the world.”

[Stamp Collection Highlights]

Limited to 750,000 sets worldwide, each set is individually numbered

Contains 16 stamps (8 pictures × 2), commemorative first day cover

Using environmentally friendly ink in the same color as the original picture book

Comes with a mini guide book to tell the story of creation

Currently, this set of stamps is on sale at post offices across the United States and the USPS official website. What’s special is that USPS encourages buyers to use these stamps to send “goodnight postcards” to their loved ones far away, continuing the original intention of the picture book to convey warmth.

As Margaret Wise Brown said: “The best stories are told to children who are about to go to bed.” Now, this goodnight blessing will continue to warm the next 75 years in the form of stamps.