From Publishers Weekly
This collection of folktales from a variety of cultural traditions displaces the familiar man-in-the-moon: here the lunar face reveals, in turn, a rabbit and frog, a weaver and her cat, and even a four-eyed jaguar. An Aboriginal myth, for example, speaks of the waning moon as Baloo, who once visited the Earth and fell into a river while riding a canoe; he shrinks whenever he recalls this embarrassment. Each of the 12 tales is paired with a vignette about the pertinent culture. Filling four-fifths of each spread, Shed's (Casey Over There) oil and colored-pencil illustrations are rendered in an unvarying, brown and orange palette that, along with their stereotypical subjects and composition, do little to rouse the reader's imagination. Still, they evoke a down-to-earth presence that matches the text's teacherly tone. Indeed, the book's poetic title is misleading: these "myths" are really synopses that sacrifice the intimate and playful details of full-fledged storytelling. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5?Twelve different interpretations of the images seen on the surface of the moon are presented in this striking book. A column on the left-hand side of each double-page spread contains a brief story and a description of the people who have told it (e.g., the Aztecs, Iroquois, Chinese, American cowboys); the rest of the spread features an illustration done in oils and colored pencils. The cover shows a picture of cowboy storytellers, not usually considered mythmakers, and the final selection is about modern astronomers. The artist has carefully illuminated each group's vision; a poetic refrain summarizing what the people see is placed within an open space in each picture. The final spread suggests that readers ask themselves what they see in the moon. Moroney includes notes, maps for locating the cultures included, and sources. A rich golden glow permeates the artwork, tying it together into an integrated whole, and tapa clothlike endpapers, reflecting the selection from Polynesia, add to a sense of unity. When used with Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London's Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back (Philomel, 1992), this book will invite discussion on the meanings of stories and why they differ from culture to culture.?Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
