On a car trip to Grandma's house, a boy discovers that the moon is following them. "We go up the big hill./ There's the moon!/ And around the lake. See the moon!" Across the countryside, along the highway, through a tunnel and into the city, he keeps track of the changing scenery and the moon's progress, until they arrive at their destination. "Hi, Grandma! Look, look, up over the rooftops--the moon came with us too!" Although debut author Conrad's theme is a familiar one, it's played out here with pizzazz, in poetic prose rife with pleasant repetition, jaunty descriptions ("The moon shines brighter than a night-light high in the blueberry sky") and gentle humor ("See you later, blanket--/ I think I'll take my blanket"). Carter (Wake Up House!) crafts his eye-catching, irresistibly tactile 3-D illustrations from foam board and plaster and layers shiny acrylic paint as thickly as frosted cookies. A simple, uncluttered layout, vibrant colors and textured cut-out shapes that render trees as lollipops, noses as bright cherry-colored beads and the moon a fat buttered biscuit in the sky add visual punch. Ages 2-4.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-In this delightful debut, Conrad captures a quintessential childhood experience. One night, when the moon is shining "high in the blueberry sky," a young boy says good-bye to his favorite things and leaves with his parents for a trip to Grandma's house. As their car travels on country roads, over the bridge, and through the tunnel into the city, the child notices that the moon is coming with them. The brief text encapsulates his wonder: "See the moon!" "The moon, the moon!" "Here comes the moon," as it plays peekaboo over the trees and follows the family all the way to journey's end, where it continues to shine brightly over the rooftops. Carter's childlike, three-dimensional illustrations, all on double-page spreads, are executed in foam board, plaster, and acrylic paint. They are brimming with texture and saturated colors. The boy's pie-shaped face with its ball nose shines out from the cover, peeks out of the car window, and grins with contentment in his grandmother's arms. The scenes move from the tranquility of country roads meandering past farm and orchard to the bustle of the city with lights shining out of the many-windowed skyscrapers and multiple dogs taking their evening walk on real-rope leashes. Grandma, dressed in jogging suit and sneakers, waits expectantly outside a row of brownstones. A charmer.
Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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