Sci-fi Bedtime Story Says ‘Goodnight, Gom Jabbar’

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If you remember falling to sleep while one of your parents read Goodnight Moon at your bedside, and if you also remember the first time you read Dune and found yourself wide awake late into the night with thoughts of ornithopters, sandworms, and spice – well, Goodnight Dune is going to be right up your sietch.

Julia Yu’s wonderful sci-fi bedtime adaptation was inspired by a College Humor gag, but her artwork and writing does a fantastic job of combining the spirit of the original children’s book with the finer, tiny details that only real Dune fans would be able to spot.

Goodnight Dune includes references to no-rooms and the Golden Path (things you’d only know if you read later volumes in the Dune cycle), as well as visual cues — a cylindrical heighliner, a monstrous Guild navigator with bulging eyes — taken from David Lynch’s overblown 1984 film adaptation.

If, like me, you’re a parent who can’t wait for your kids to be old enough to start at Dune and maybe make it as far as Children of Dune (after that, things went a bit down-worm in my opinion), I suggest you keep a bookmark for Goodnight Dune handy on your laptop or iPad, ready for bedtime.

When they’re old enough for the Water of Life, your child will thank you.