And If the Moon Could Talk
From AwardAnnals
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| Author(s) | Kate Banks, Georg Hallensleben |
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| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) |
| Honors | |
| It is night. Inside a house, a child is getting ready for bed. A hall light is switched on, toys and animals are settled in their places. Papa reads a story, Mama comes in to say good night, dreams wait to enter sleep…And if the moon could talk, it would tell of the many different nighttime activities that it sees from its vantage point, outside the house and high, high above. In this tranquil, evocative picture book, text and pictures illuminate interior and exterior nighttime scenes, showing us what the moon might see-and say, if it could talk. | |
It is night. Inside a house, a child is getting ready for bed. A hall light is switched on, toys and animals are settled in their places. Papa reads a story, Mama comes in to say good night, dreams wait to enter sleep…And if the moon could talk, it would tell of the many different nighttime activities that it sees from its vantage point, outside the house and high, high above.
In this tranquil, evocative picture book, text and pictures illuminate interior and exterior nighttime scenes, showing us what the moon might see-and say, if it could talk.
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
“And if the moon could talk, / it would tell of evening / stealing through the woods / and a lizard scurrying home to supper.” Kate Banks and illustrator Georg Hallensleben’s lovely bedtime book spins a sleepy tale of what the moon would say if it could look down at a night-swept Earth and tell us what it sees. The book begins with a cozy inside view of a little pajama-clad girl and her stuffed white rabbit. Then we travel outside to a moon’s view of the night world. Back inside, from the familiar objects on the bedside table—”a glass, a wooden boat, a starfish, too”—we move to “waves washing onto the beach, / shells, and a crab resting.” Each rich, color-drenched scene complements the next—as Mama hands her child the toy rabbit, a lioness licks her cubs in a faraway den. “And if the moon could talk,” the book concludes, “it would tell of a child / curled up in bed wrapped in sleep. / And it would murmur / Good night.” From the creators of the beloved Baboon and Spider, Spider, this beautiful book—winner of the 1998 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for best picture book—has become one of our all-time favorite bedtime stories. (Click to see a sample spread. Illustrations copyright © 1998 by Georg Hallensleben, text © 1998 by Kate Banks. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.) (Ages 3 and older) —Karin Snelson
