United States Postal Service Launches Goodnight Moon Forever Stamps at The Rabbit hOle
- lindsey4824
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
On May 2, 2025 The Rabbit hOle was honored to host the first-day-of-issue festivities for the United States Postal Service’s Goodnight Moon Commemorative Forever® Stamps.
The pane of 16 stamps was formally unveiled by Rabbit hOle directors Deb Pettid and Pete Cowdin, Director of Stamp Services Lisa Bobb-Semple, USPS District Manager Jeremie Six, and children’s book creator Thacher Hurd, the son of Goodnight Moon illustrator Clement Hurd.
“We’re here this morning to honor one of the most important works in American literature in the last 100 years,” Cowdin said. “And when I say that, I am including adult literature as well as literature for young people.”
“The best books that we loved as children are of no less value, artistically or otherwise, than the books we now love as adults. They simply reflect a perceptual world
we no longer inhabit. A world of everyday magic, where the sound of a car, the trace of a shadow, the flight of a red balloon, feel like the beginnings of a prayer or the keys to an unsolved mystery.”
The Goodnight Moon stamp is the latest to feature a work of children’s literature. In the last decade, USPS has also created stamps honoring The Snowy Day written and illustrated by Jack Ezra Keats, The Giving Tree written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein, and Strega Nona written and illustrated by Tomie DePaola.
Lisa Bobb-Semple noted that stamps and storytelling share an important impact.
“Much like the simple act of sending a letter, reading a bedtime story creates a special connection and bond,” Bobb-Semple said. “I also invite you to think of a child, a grandparent, or a loved one to share these stamps with.”
Guest of honor Thacher Hurd, who attended the event with his wife Olivia, two sons and daughters-in-law, and four grandsons, reflected on Goodnight Moon’s enduring power.
“I think Margaret and my father understood that it was going to be something special,” Hurd said. “But when it was published, it wasn't really noticed at all.”
He attributes the eventual success of the book to the children who loved it and a deep, almost philosophical approach that touches readers of all ages.
“It's a very strange, wonderful, and very grounded book,” Hurd said. “It's very much in this world, but it's also otherworldly at the same time.”
After the ceremony, guests bought the new stamps, designed their own stamps and postcards in the Tons of Fun Room, and attended an introduction to stamp collecting with USPS. Thacher gave two presentations about his parents, their friendship with Goodnight Moon author Margaret Wise Brown, and his own life and career.
Clement Hurd and Margaret Wise Brown’s first collaboration was The Runaway Bunny, published in 1942. Thacher shared a story about Margaret, who saved the Goodnight Moon manuscript for several years while Clement served overseas in WWII so that he could illustrate the book upon his return.
Thacher’s mother, Edith Thacher Hurd, was also an extraordinary children’s book creator. Edith, or “Posey” as she was called by her friends, was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1910. She attended the Sunset Hill School, which is now part of Pembroke Hill School. The day before the stamp celebration, Thacher and Olivia took a tour of the school’s grounds where exactly 99 years ago Edith had been the school’s May Day Queen!
It was a spectacular weekend for everyone involved, and best of all it brought Thacher and his family to The Rabbit hOle for the first time to see the larger-than-life Great Green Room exhibit that has brought so much joy to Kansas Citians and travellers alike.
“The two days at The Rabbit hOle were a blur of happy sights and sounds,” Thacher said, reflecting on his visit.
The Goodnight Moon Commemorative Forever® Stamps are available at USPS.com.
Watch the Unveiling Ceremony
