Kirkus Reviews (Print)
September 15, 2013, Sunday
COME BACK, MOON
PICTURE BOOKS
Poet and Newbery Honoree Kherdian (The Road from Home: The Story of an
Armenian Girl, 1979) teams again with his wife, distinguished two-time
Caldecott-winning illustrator and author Hogrogian, for this gentle
animal fable (Lullaby for Emily, 1995, etc.). “Bear couldn’t sleep and
blamed the light of the moon.”
He steals it and stuffs it into his pillowcase. Other animals–Fox,
Skunk, Opossum and Raccoon–miss the moon and speculate as to its
whereabouts. Crow says to Fox, “You’re the clever one. Where did it
go?” Fox suggests asking wise Owl. Hogrogian’s soft, muted
watercolors, further grayed by pencil, depict the parade of woodland
creatures en route to Owl’s perch, trailing behind Fox’s white-tipped
tail. When Owl fingers Bear, Fox and Crow hatch a plan. Crow tells
Bear a slumber-inducing story, then he and Fox snatch the pillowcase
and release the moon. The happy ending reveals the animals dancing by
moonlight while Bear sleeps contentedly on. Within plainspoken text
and dialogue, Kherdian weaves a folkloric motif–the moon’s theft and
restoration–with child-resonant tropes: mistaken judgment, compelling
curiosity and cooperation to right wrongs. Hogrogian subtly
characterizes the animals’ emotions and responses without
anthropomorphizing them unduly. The keen tilt of Fox’s head indicates
acute observation, while Bear’s heavy-lidded eyes and relaxed pose
telegraph imminent napping. (Incidentally, only Bear’s gender is
conveyed, permitting diverse interpretations for the other creatures.)
Charming. (Picture book. 3-7)
Publication Date: 2013-10-15
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Stage: Children’s
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5887-1
Price: $16.99
Author: Kherdian, David
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress