When Mercurio, a wizened, flat-topped elf of a man, awakens one morning and finds the house to himself, he is struck with the idea of making moon soup. He spends all day gathering the ingredients to prepare this delicacy--and what a shopping list it is! Six eggs and the color purple (lilacs, violets and eggplants are good), "teacups galore," a scoop of sunset and a little music all blended in a large umbrella. When the lunar brew is ready, there's only one place to dine: "sitting on the moon." This unusual picture book is a visual feast of surreal colors and shapes. Bright, bold artwork glistens with an undercurrent of eeriness as Desimini ( The Great Peace March ; Heron Street ) whisks together design sophistication and childlike quirkiness. The text itself is a bit arbitrary: there seems to be little rhyme or reason to the makings of moon soup, and any item could be added to the list without real consequence. Desimini's imagination is wonderfully fertile while her book's foundations are agreeably off-center. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-How does one make moon soup? Spend the day collecting the fanciful ingredients-purple things, teacups, a sunset-then put on wings and fly to the moon to eat it. Although this slight story is weakly whimsical, the illustrations shove it right out into the fantasy stratosphere. Who is preparing the soup? A person with wrinkled brown skin, bright blue eyes, gray hair cut spiky on top with a long braid in back, elfin ears, Frida Kahlo eyebrows, slippers with pointy toes, and blue wings. She (He?, It?) mixes the concoction in an umbrella with the help of some bizarre looking friends (some of whom might be vegetables; others are geometric figures). Shapes, lines, and colors combine to create an exciting visual experience. But, lacking a strong story, this book comes across like a vivid but enigmatic piece of performance art.
Ruth Semrau, Lovejoy School, Allen, TX
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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