From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–Curtis's charming rhyme begins, "I took the Moon for a walk last night./It followed behind like a still summer kite,/Though there wasn't a string or a tail in sight/when I took the Moon for a walk." The child's journey continues over a bridge, past a sharp steeple that nearly snags the moon, through a pack of howling dogs, and across the dewy grass. Throughout, the language is fresh and visual: "rust-bellied robins," "neighborhood dogs made a train-whistle choir," "clouds that were fragile as lace." The book ends with two pages of facts about the phases of the moon and some of the animals and plants included in the story. The folk-art-inspired illustrations are a perfect complement to the gentle fantasy. Using oil painted on paper with a crackling varnish, Jay creates a moving, panoramic country landscape in which the pictures tell many stories that children will love to discover–the skinny-legged moon loses a slipper; the neighborhood dogs run out for an evening romp; a gentleman pedals by on a bike, enjoying the still evening. This is a quaint and quiet book worth sharing.
–Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS-Gr. 2. As the sun sets and everyone heads indoors, a young boy takes the moon on a stroll around his neighborhood. Curtis' rhyming text is rich with descriptive language and images: "We tiptoed through grass where the nightcrawlers creep / when the rust-bellied robins have all gone to sleep, / And the Moon called the dew so the grass seemed to weep / When I took the Moon for a walk." Jay's surreal, Salvador Dali-like illustrations not only greatly enhance the dreamlike quality of the text but also provide visual images for some of the unfamiliar words and unusual phrasings. The textured cracked-eggshell appearance of the pictures, achieved by applying a crackling varnish over alkyd oil paint, gives the book an aged, fragile look. An ending double-page spread has information about the phases of the moon and nocturnal animals, so kids will know what to look for on their own nighttime adventures.
Lauren PetersonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
