Goodnight Opus
Encyclopedia
Goodnight Opus is a 1993 children's book by Berkeley Breathed
featuring Opus the Penguin
.
Goodnight Opus is a take-off of the popular Goodnight Moon
children's book; this book actually begins with Opus being read Goodnight Moon by a maternal nanny figure while he sits in bed in his pink pajamas. After the nanny falls asleep while reading, Opus goes on his own journey to say goodnight to all sorts of fanciful beings and animals. The entire journey is an ode to imagination and to going beyond the last pages of a book. Because the book encourages readers to think radically, it has "been banned in seventeen countries with early bedtimes", according to Breathed's website.
The book ultimately served as a foreshadowing of Opus's fate; in the character's final story-arc in the
Opus
comic strip, he is encouraged by the ghost of Elvis and Breathed himself to choose someplace where he can spend eternity in peace. The final strip finds that Opus has chosen to spend eternity sleeping in the bed on the final page of Goodnight Moon.
Berkeley Breathed
Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed is an American cartoonist, children's book author/illustrator, director and screenwriter, best known for Bloom County, a 1980s cartoon-comic strip that dealt with sociopolitical issues as understood by fanciful characters and through humorous analogies...
featuring Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin is a character in the comic strips and children's books of Berkeley Breathed, most notably the popular 1980s strip Bloom County. Breathed has described him as an "existentialist penguin" and the favorite of his many characters...
.
Goodnight Opus is a take-off of the popular Goodnight Moon
Goodnight Moon
Goodnight Moon is an American children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was first published in 1947, and is a highly acclaimed example of a bedtime story. It is about a child saying goodnight to everything around: "Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight...
children's book; this book actually begins with Opus being read Goodnight Moon by a maternal nanny figure while he sits in bed in his pink pajamas. After the nanny falls asleep while reading, Opus goes on his own journey to say goodnight to all sorts of fanciful beings and animals. The entire journey is an ode to imagination and to going beyond the last pages of a book. Because the book encourages readers to think radically, it has "been banned in seventeen countries with early bedtimes", according to Breathed's website.
The book ultimately served as a foreshadowing of Opus's fate; in the character's final story-arc in the
Opus
Opus (comic strip)
Opus was a Sunday strip drawn by Berkeley Breathed for a period of five years, 2003 to 2008. It was Breathed's fourth comic strip, following The Academia Waltz, Bloom County and Outland....
comic strip, he is encouraged by the ghost of Elvis and Breathed himself to choose someplace where he can spend eternity in peace. The final strip finds that Opus has chosen to spend eternity sleeping in the bed on the final page of Goodnight Moon.