"I took the Moon for a walk last night. It followed behind like a still summer kite, though there wasn't a string or a tail in sight when I took the Moon for a walk."
This is how the adventure starts for a young boy telling the tale of his moonlit walk the night before. The boy and the Moon walk together through the neighborhood visiting the dogs, swinging together and crossing a bridge (had a great discussion about reflections with Jack on this page).
The sing-songiness (spell check tells me that this is not a word) of the writing makes this an excellent bedtime book.
Colin loves this book - he says "moon" at every page and giggles at the Moon's red shoes. =)
Jack also loves this book but his favorite part is the last couple of pages after the story ends where the author has illustrations of the different phases of the moon (Jack loves being quizzed on waxing versus waning) as well as animals and flowers that are nocturnal.
Oh, the illustrations! They are beyond beautiful. I read on the book jacket that Alison Jay uses alkyd oil paint on paper with a crackling varnish, which gives her illustrations an antique, nostalgic quality. The illustrations are truly unique and add so much to the character of the story. I plan to seek out other books with her illustrations for sure.
I should mention that according to Amazon (here), this book is aimed at ages 4-8, but it easily held the attention of my 4 year old and almost 3 year old. =)
This book gets a definite thumbs up from us!
