A patron at Post Road Library shared that after her mother lost her hearing, she underwent cochlear implant surgery. To navigate the challenging process of relearning how to hear and speak, she chose a nostalgic classic as her primary textbook: Goodnight Moon.
Why? Because this simple story contains nearly every phoneme (the distinct units of sound) in the English language.
The Librarian’s Deep Dive:
Inspired by this story, I did some digging. It turns out this isn't just a library legend! My research led me to a fascinating phonological map created by a linguist at the University of Michigan named John Lawler.
While the original website had vanished from the live internet, I was able to “time travel” to find it. By using the Wayback Machine, a digital archive of the internet, I recovered the data that confirms how the specific word choices in the book cover the vast spectrum of English sounds. The map can be found here.
This discovery highlights two things we love at FCPL:
The Versatility of our Collection
A book in our Children’s Department is not just for children; it can be a vital tool for an adult navigating a medical recovery, or even learning a new language!
Digital Literacy
Finding archived information like the phonological map is exactly what our staff loves to help with.
Margaret Wise Brown is also the author of many other children’s books that we have available for you to check out right here at FCPL! Browse through our collection of Margaret Wise Brown’s books here.
If you are looking for a specific resource that seems to have disappeared from the internet, or if you're interested in learning how to use tools like the Wayback Machine on our Public Access Computers (PACs), just ask! Whether it's for speech practice, research, or nostalgia, we’re always here to help you find the right words.
Kara Nitschke Tessendorf
Youth Specialist
Post Road Library
