Jolly Season Sleep-Aid! Santa and the Goodnight Train by June Sobel

SANTA'S COMING! HO HO HO!
THE GOODNIGHT TRAIN IS ALL AGLOW.

ENGINE'S SHINED, LOOKING JOLLY.
STRUNG WITH LIGHTS, DECKED WITH HOLLY!

ALL ABOARD. SLOW AND STEADY.
CAREFUL NOT TO DROP YOUR TEDDY!

It's no secret that for youngsters, falling asleep is difficult on Christmas Eve.

So what could be more timely than a special sleepytime express, The Goodnight Train, sporting a big wreath on its boiler and pulling special sleeping cars, each one a cozy sleigh bed for tired but excited tots. As he boards, one boy drops his bed-buddy-bear, just as it's all aboard for the little night-capped and pajama-ed passengers, and with a WHOOOO WHOOOO and a JINGLE JINGLE the Goodnight Train heads out for Destination Dreamland.

Lucky for that little rider, the lost Teddy catches a ride on Santa's sleigh as they zoom through a gingerbread town, the merry locomotive shining its light into the night, and the missing Teddy drops down right where he is supposed to be as Santa flies on.

Meanwhile Santa's sleigh has a temporary delay, but soon all is set aright, and his reindeer fly again through the night. With its load of snoozing sleepers, each one now gifted and with the boy's Teddy back in his arms, the Goodnight Train chugs on, its job well done. Santa sighs with relief, finally heading back to his workshop on Christmas Eve.

This just-published holiday sequel to June Sobel's train series, with its Christmasy sparkles and colors by illustrator Laura Hutiska Beigh and Sobel's soothing rhyming verses, Santa and the Goodnight Train (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019) may be just the bedtime story to send non-somnolent youngsters off to sleep on Christmas Eve, especially when shared with Sobel's The Goodnight Train and The Goodnight Train Rolls On! (board book).