Moon


10


Britta Teckentrup, text by Patricia Hegarty, Little Tiger, 9781848698673, £7.99pbk


Britta Teckentrup’s illustrations capture beautifully how the moon is a companion


for


creatures and plant life around the world, shining down on them wherever they may be, from woodland to desert to ocean, from jungle to grassland to mountainside. A cut-out feature on every spread demonstrates the gradual waxing and waning


of the moon. The complementary text is in rhyming couplets and is soothing to read aloud.


How to Be on the


Moon Viviane Schwarz, Walker, 9781406379921, £11.99hbk


Anna and Crocodile make a great team. Anna has ambitions which she is determined to fulfil while Crocodile is cautious. Anna wants to go to the moon and will brook no argument from Crocodile who suggests


several Together they plan their trip


– while Anna builds the rocket, Crocodile makes the all-important sandwiches. When they land on the moon they look up at the Earth and ponder its beauty and its distance before they embark on the journey home.


The Darkest Dark


Chris Hadfield and Kate Fillion, illustrators The Fan Brothers, Macmillan, 9781529013610 £6.99pbk


A boy who has dreams of becoming an astronaut overcomes his night-time fears once his mind is opened after watching the Apollo 11 moon landing on TV with his neighbours and he can see ‘the power and mystery and


velvety black beauty of the dark’. The illustrations include visual reference to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and, like Max, Chris goes on an imaginative journey which in his case turns out to be lifechanging. The real Chris Hadfield was inspired to become an astronaut after seeing the first moon landing and there is biographical information about him at the end of book, plus photos including one with Albert, the charming pug dog who appears in the story!


When We Walked on the Moon


David Long & Sam Kalda, Wide Eyed Editions, 9781786030917, £12.99hbk


All seven of the Apollo missions to the moon are given equal weight in this account which gives insights into


the astronauts’ personal


experiences as well as describing the voyages, the technology and what they discovered. A page is devoted to each of the crews from Apollo 11 to Apollo 17. The illustrations have a retro feel in keeping with the time period when these events took place.


Books for Keeps No.237 July 2019 7 obstacles.


Moonstruck! Poems


about Our Moon Roger Stevens (editor), illustrator Ed Boxall, Otter-Barry Books, 9781910959657, £6.99pbk


All phases and faces of the moon are covered in this poetry collection inspired by our nearest neighbouring heavenly body. Poets from the past such as Emily Brontë and Robert Louis Stevenson are included although the emphasis is on the fresh and new from contemporary poets such as Grace Nichols, Rachel Rooney and Jay Hulme and some excellent imagery from child poets Harshita Das and Sam Decie. The poems take a range of forms. Philip Waddell and


Roger Stevens list ‘Moony Names’, James Carter shapes how ‘The Moon Speaks!’ and Tony Mitton contributes ‘Three Short Poems’ in the forms of a haiku, a tanka and a cinquain. And did you know ‘The First Woman on the Moon’ was called Mabel Greensmith’?!


The Moon Hannah Pang, illustrator Thomas Hegbrook, 360 degrees, 9781848577381, £16.99hbk


A cornucopia of facts and fancies about the moon and our relationship with it. Included are its possible effects on human and animal


behaviour, folklore and


tales, its influence on literature and the arts as well as information about people’s endeavours at exploration. Thomas Hegbrook’s shadowy illustrations accentuate the mystery the moon has held for humankind.


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