Sarajevo gets its own "Good Night Moon" for kids

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The Bosnian version of one of America's best-known children's bedtime books, "Goodnight Moon," was launched on Thursday to help sick children at a Sarajevo cancer clinic.

Author Kate Moynihan, an American former aid worker who had worked in the region during the 1990s wars, said she felt Sarajevo, a former host of the Olympic winter games, needed its own 'Goodnight' book.

"I've always had a love affair with Sarajevo," said Moynihan, who had hoped to join U.S. skaters competing at the 1984 winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo but never made the team.

Sales from the entire 5,000-copy print run of "Laku noc, Goodnight Sarajevo" will help fund the reconstruction of a cancer ward at a Sarajevo clinic destroyed during the 1992-95 war.

"The children actually made suggestions (for goodnight wishes) that we incorporated into the book," Moynihan said. "The illustrations are from the children from across Sarajevo and in the clinic."

The book cover illustration shows a typical Bosnian room with a view of the moon in a window. The goodnight wishes include "Goodnight Vucko the Olympic mascot" and "Goodnight mosques and churches, all those at prayer."

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic, editing by Adam Tanner and Paul Casciato)