Garden Behind the Moon [School & Library Binding]

H. Pyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1895. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... The Moon-Garden SO David lived in the moon-house for twelve days, and every day, when he had no work to do, he looked out of a moon window. And each time he looked out of a window he saw something different from that which he had seen the day before. One time he saw a tropical forest, where the liana vines hung from the trees like great curtains, covered all over with red and yellow and blue flowers, and out beyond the edge of the forest was the sea, where the mangroves grew down by the water's edge, and where black crabs, with little red spots peppered over their bodies, twiddle their legs and crawled in and out among the tall, thin roots. The wind rushed and rattled through the palm leaves, and all sorts of birds and strange insects flitted and hummed and buzzed about him. For it was not at all like looking out of a common window. It seemed to David as though he were walking in the forest itself with all these living things buzzing and humming and moving about him. Ah! it is something worth while to look out of a moon window, I can tell you, little child. You yourself will see how it is some day, for everybody looks out of a moon window sooner or later, and this is not all nonsense either. At another time David saw the icebergs glittering bright and transparent with sapphire and green and red light as they floated in the dark northern seas. He was, it seemed to him, walking on the ice-floes, and there were herds of seals and walrus scattered like black patches along the white shore. The northern lights waved like white and violet banners in the air, and queer little Eskimo folk--men, women, and children--clad all in furs, crept in and out of their ice houses. At another time it was as though he was aboard of a great ship, with its sails spread white a...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pyle was one of the late nineteenth-century writers who helped invent the fairy tale novel, and it is thrilling to have this wonderful and moving book back in print."--Jane Yolen

"Magical, wistful, lyrical-a different face to the writer who introduced me and thousands of others to heroic adventure. Not to be missed!"--Tamora Pierce

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• School & Library Binding: 132 pages
• Publisher: Topeka Bindery (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613570529
• ISBN-13: 978-0613570527
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,260,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A children's classic, but different from Pyle's usual style., June 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Garden Behind the Moon: The Real Story of the Moon Angel (Paperback)

I'm very lucky. I have an original edition of this book...published in 1903. My grandfather read it to my father, who read it to me, and now I've read it to my children. As much as I loved this book as a boy, I love it more as an adult. This is a story of a shy, sensitive child who endures the taunts of other children, and who runs away to meet the man in the moon, live in the moonhouse, and ultimately to become a man and claim his destiny in the garden on the other side of the moon. Modern kids who live on Nintendo and R-rated movies will struggle at first to adjust to the delicate childishness (in the best sense) of the language and plot, but this is a book that is hard not to love. Read it, and you'll never look at the reflection of moonlight on the water in the same way again. Pyle's illustrations are at least as valuable as his text. They add to the sense of tender melancholy that pervades this book. Pyle fans who are used to his swashbuckling adventures are in for something very different here. The best way for a child to absorb this book is sitting next to his mom or dad on the couch, an arm around his shoulder, listening to the words while studying the pictures. If Pyle's other books are like Wagner's The Ride Of The Valkeries, then The Garden Behind The Moon is like Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopedies.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I liked this book because it was very magical and exciting., July 7, 2004

By 

KidsReads (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Garden Behind The Moon (Paperback)

Every night in the fishing village where he lives eleven-year-old David, a moon calf, sits alone by the shore watching the path of light that stretches across the sea until it almost touches the moon. Wondering where it goes, he decides to talk to Hans Krout, the cobbler, about it and learns that the cobbler has been out on the moon path himself. That same night Hans takes him to the shore and ties to teach him how to cross but David gets scared and falls into the water. Then one day he hears the voice of the Moon Angel down by the shore. Moon Angel makes people happy when they're sad, but he also takes something away from them. He tells David that he, Moon Angel, is the Master Cobbler, and David should have Hans bring him to the moon path again. That same night Hans and David make another trip down to the moon path, and this time David crosses it. Once he's on the other side he discovers that the path leads to a magical world behind the moon where David's adventure begins.

When he enters the magical world, the first thing he discovers is the Moon House where the Man in the Moon lives. It's dark and quiet, and every time David looks out a window, he sees something different. A few days later he discovers the Moon Garden. It's a peaceful place with a lot of children living in it. The children begin talking and playing with David, and they don't make fun of him like the children in the village where he lives, because they're all moon calves too. He leaves the Moon Garden, but the Man in the Moon decides that David will be allowed to go there for three days every month. During one of his visits he meets a girl named Phyllis, and they start to become really good friends. They do everything together. But five months later, the guardian of the children tells David that he can't come to the Moon Garden again because he will soon be 12 years old. Children can't live there once they're 12 years old because they have to learn how to become a grown man or woman. She also tells him that Phyllis is a princess, and that he was really sent there to find the Wonder Box and the Know All Book in order to bring them back to the brown earth again. The guardian says he must first battle a giant and then see an old woman in a red petticoat, who will tell him what to do next. Then while in the Moon House one day, David sees the Moon Angel, and passes behind him.

Now David finds himself on the shore of the sea ten years in the future as a grown man. He goes to the old woman's cottage and learns that Adam and Eve lived in the Moon Garden, where the Moon Angel gave them the Wonder Box. He told them that it held the greatest joy in the world, the Know All Book, but not to open the box because, if they do, sorrow will come upon them. However, a few days later they opened it and end up captives of the Iron Giant in his Iron Castle. In order for David to find the Wonder Box and the Know All Book, he'll have to travel to the Iron Castle too, but he'll have to outsmart the giant in order to succeed. Will David win the battle, and get the Wonder Box and the Know All Book back to the brown earth?

I liked this book because it was very magical and exciting. If I had been David, I would have been sad to leave the Moon Garden, and scared to battle the giant. If you enjoy reading books about magical places, THE GARDEN BEHIND THE MOON is an excellent choice!

--- (...)

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly profound and beautifully told story, July 15, 2005

By 

P. L. Marzo (Clarence, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Garden Behind the Moon (School & Library Binding)

I bought this book for my son after discovering and enjoying Howard Pyle's stories of King Arthur. The Garden Behind the Moon is without question the best children's book I have ever read. It teaches some important concepts in a way that young children can understand: the reason why David cannot remain in the moon garden, how and why David must do the task he was sent to do, how David completes the difficult but necessary transition from little boy to grown man and how he ultimately brings the Know-All book containing its wisdom about the greatest sorrow and greatest joy to earth.

This book along with the Wonder Clock and the King Arthur stories have made my son and I Howard Pyle fans. Today's books for children are disappointing in comparison.