When my son wanted an overhead light in his bunk bed to ease him to sleep at night we wanted to do something fun that matched the decor. His room has a mural of earth seen from the surface of the moon so we decided that the bed was the lunar lander. I remember my reading light as a child getting dangerously hot and melting the fixture so I wanted something safe. I bought some electroluminescent (EL) wire and created a meandering space pattern above his head. EL Wire consumes very little power and runs cool making it fire safe for a child's bed. The glow is bright enough to make him happy, but not too bright to keep him awake. My motto of "complex solutions to simple problems" has made my son very happy.
There are many places that sell EL Wire, simply Google or go to Live Wire.
