Customer Reviews

Fool Moon Rising

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fool Moon Rising is one incredible book! In a delightful and well-illustrated short poem, The Kristi & T. Lively Fluharty will demonstrate the foolishness of pride and point your child (and you!) to the solution.

The moon begins the story living for himself. His one aim is to sing his praise, to make sure that all who see him recognize his greatness. It is obvious that the moons great light is not his, but from the sun. But the moon is oblivious to this fact and sings his praise. Does that sound familiar? O, how convicting because I am just like this foolish moon so often. Fool Moon Rising reveals the proud sinner inside of me each time I read it. Everything good in me comes from God, so why would I boast as if it were not a gift? Yet, in my blindness, that is exactly what I (and my child) am prone to do.

It would be an excellent book if that was all it did: Point out the foolishness of pride. But it would not be a complete book. The moon is suddenly and remarkably changed when one day he sees the bright and blinding light of the Sun, the source of his light. From that glimpse on, the moon lives for one and only one purpose: To point all the glory back to the Sun. The only way to kill my pride is to gaze upon the glory of God; this will irresistibly direct my life after my one great aim: to enjoy God and glorify Him forever.

But what I love about the story is that it doesn't explain any of the meaning behind the parable. This leaves likely countless years of many quality discussions with your child (your spouse, and even your own heart) about all of the rich meaning behind the parable. To help you out, there are a couple Bible verses and number of very good questions included.

My daughter, 19 months, loves the pictures and wants me to read it to her all the time. The book includes incredibly fun illustrations. I can't wait for the day, very soon, when I can begin asking her simple questions about the content. It is simple enough that a 2-and-a-half or three-year-old could get some points, but deep enough to even challenge adults.

As the elder at my church who determines books-of-the-month, this has quickly vaulted to the top of the list for children's books of the month. I long for the next generation at my church to be deeply affected by the message of this book; I long for the parents at my church to be deeply affected by the message of this book; and most of all I want my family (starting with myself) to be deeply affected by the pride-destroying message of this book.

It's been quite a while since a Christian picture book got me so excited I couldn't wait to write a review of the book, but such is the case with Kristi and T. Lively Fluharty's Fool Moon Rising.

The book begins by quoting 1 Corinthians 4:7, which points out that everything we have is something God has given us. Then we see a young boy staring up at the night sky. He asks God if a certain story he's heard is true. The moon, he says, once bragged every night that he could bring light to the dark night sky; he pompously sang only songs about himself (like "Moon River" and "Blue Moon"), took pride in his ability to transform from a round orb to a sliver, delighted in the thought that astronauts "danced across his face" and that he caused the great oceans to rise and swell. "I am the greatest light!" he bragged to the universe.

"Until one day a piercing ray
Showed him a shocking sight.
He saw his pride and then he cried
For all that he had done.
For he had lied when he denied
His light came from the Sun."

Then, the young boy concludes, the moon fully admitted he was just reflecting the Sun's glory - and the boy prays that every day and in everything he does he will make much of God, not himself.

The last page of the book offers a few discussion questions, illustrations of some amazing sights in space (including the X Structure at the Core of the Whirlpool Galaxy), and some fun facts about space.

What I Like: First, the illustrations in this book are nothing less than outstanding. T. Lively Fluharty's artwork is not only rich and detailed, but it's just plain fun. My four year old (who happens to love everything space related) laughed out loud at these illustrations: We see a cheesy moon, clearly full of himself, surrounded by animals and planets that find him perfectly annoying. On the page where the moon sings, the he also plays a guitar and has a cow jumping over him. Later, we see astronauts in ballet shoes and tutus "dancing" on the moon, as well as monkleys in space suits trying to eat bananas through their helmets.

Second, the message here is not only terrific, but the moon and how it reflects the light of the sun are a great way to explain how we can reflect Christ's light.

What I Dislike: The rhyming text in this book is okay - it's neither bad nor great. Given the terrific nature of both this book's illustrations and its premise, I would have loved to seen a stronger writer tackle this tale.

I also wish that instead of devoting the last two pages of the book to miscellaneous facts about space, the author had instead spent at least a little room explaining how the moon really does reflect the sun, how it waxes and wanes, how it affects the tides, etc. As it is, all this is spoken of as if the readers already understand these concepts, so I spent a bit of time explaining them to my preschooler.

Overall Rating: Despite these flaws, Fool Moon Rising is exceptional. My four year old asks me to read it to her over and over again, and I give it a rating of Excellent.

Kristina Seleshanko
Managing Editor
Christian Children's Book Review

Fool Moon Rising--First let me talk to you about being a mother and reading this wonderful book. Well of course I think it is phenomenal!!!! I've always been a fan of Tom's illustrations and Kristi's way with words and the God given talent they both have.

I'm not just a mother but the mother and mother-in-law of the authors, Tom and Kristi. I am so proud of both of them and how God has enriched their lives and brought them to where they are today. Not only sharing their love of Christ thru this book, but it's how they have raised their girls and live their life every day. How I wish I would have had something like "Fool Moon Rising" when I was raising my children, but God has been faithful and patient in bringing our family to this place and He is changing our pride to humbleness daily.

I have shared this book with my coworkers and they are so excited to have a book to read to their children and grandchildren and to share with family and friends. They express to me how great the illustrations are and they love the story. Of course being the mother/mother in-law, I anxiously agree with them. Everyone who has purchased a book is anxious to have the book autographed and Tom and Kristi have graciously agreed to do so in December.

Thanks for letting me share my heart and I look forward to getting their next published book.

May God continue to richly bless your lives.

Love you
Mom

This beautifully illustrated book by Kristi and T. Lively Fluharty tells the story of the moon and how he is full of pride and vanity. He believes he is the greatest source of light...until he meets the sun. The lesson taught is that the child learns to be grateful for their blessings and not try to be prideful. The book concludes by showing a child in prayer, thanking God for all the joy and grace He gives.

Full Moon Rising will captivate your children and make them want you to read it to them again and again. The author and illustrator did a great job working together, even hiding little details in the drawings that you might not catch at first.

This 32-page book is from Crossway Books and is a must have for your Christian children's book library.

Mick McArt
Author, Tales of Wordishure
[...]

My wife and I are always happy to find good bedtime stories for our kids. Good night-time books must have good artwork, crisp writing, and tell a memorable story. Fool Moon Rising has all three.

The book is about the moon. The moon thinks he is terrific because of the light he gives. Eventually, the moon discovers that he is merely a reflection of the sun. In the end, he discovers that the greatest joy comes from reflecting light back to the sun.

The moral of the story is that the greatest joy for human beings comes not from receiving glory for ourselves but in reflecting praise back to the God who has made us.

Our kids enjoyed the book. We've read it multiple times already. I think your kids will like it too.

As a parent of 3 kids under the age of 7 I look for creative options to explain the gospel to them. I regularly find myself challenged to communicate the biblical concept of idolatry to them. Because let's face it, kids understand rules and the need to follow them. What is so often misunderstood is the nature of the heart and the need to worship God. This is a constant struggle for me as a parent because I don't want to raise rule keepers that think that they are their own Savior but instead worshipers who cling to Christ who kept all the rules in our place!

Therefore, I am blessed to be able to introduce my little girls to Full Moon Rising by T. Lively & Kristi Fluharty. This talented and gospel-centered family teams up to help kids to see something of the ugliness of idolatry. The story is of a little boy who is repeating an account of how the moon decided to take all the credit for all of the blessings that he (it) has received. He boasts in his ability to `change shape', be bright, and even receive visitors from earth to walk on his face. In addition to the simple but profound rhyming the illustrations are fantastic. You can tell that Mr Fluharty has a terrific sense of humor as well as a firm grip on the gospel. The story ends with the moon seeing the ugliness of robbing from the sun when he is confronted by the glorious heat of the sun. Great stuff. And great opportunities for parents to launch into a myriad of gospel themes.

I tested on our kids the first night and our 5-year-old gave it 83 out of 5 stars (this is what she said). Our 7-year-old gave it 5/5 stars. The rest of the family weighed in at about 4/5 stars due to our hope that their would have been a few more pages on how this translates to the creation, God and the work of Jesus. But I suppose that this is the parent's job!

I think it's a great book that is fun and extremely helpful to parents in communicating some main themes of the gospel to our kids.

I use this book in my Sunday school class and the children (ages 2-8) sit enraptured every time I read it! I hope the authors write another one soon!! :D

Imagine; your oldest daughter living and working in China; 8,200 miles from home. This is our 26 year old daughter. On a trip to Singapore, to renew her Visa, she spent a few hours in a bookstore. To our daughter's surprise, in the children's section, was the book, "Fool Moon Rising!" Not only was she blessed and excited, but she bought two copies; one for herself and one for some Chinese friends.

Why all the excitement? The Fluharty's were dear friends of our home school group and church, many years ago. For our daughter to find a book, written by friends that she knew in her childhood, as well as the folks that the Fluharty's made the Dedication too, was a balm for a young girl homesick for her family and friends.

The book itself, shows the Glory of the Risen Lord, Jesus. In all that God has created, the moon, the stars, the sun....is a reminder that
we can enjoy not only the beauty of His creation, but, the Beauty of His Holiness.

Thank you, Tom and Kristie, for reminding us of The Wonder of It All!!!!!!

From a grateful friend,
Susan Swift
Bronx, NY

ps: I also brought the book for my Grand-Niece. Blessings to you both!

This book is an amazing way to teach biblical truths to young kids. It has a amazing story and great illustrations.

This is an outstanding book that clearly teaches children about the sin of boasting, and what our true boast should be. Read it to find out!