Show Me the Moon
June 28, 2012 § 1 Comment
“Moon” was one of the very first words uttered by both of my children. When they’re playing outside at dusk, they will shriek at the top of their lungs—“MOOOOOOON!”—upon catching sight of it emerging in the still-blue sky.
If the sheer volume of children’s storybooks dedicated to this subject is any indication, my children are not alone in their enthrallment with the moon. It’s nearly impossible for me to choose one favorite story to profile here (see my lengthy list below), so I will simply go with the newest addition to this already impressive repertoire: Red Knit Cap Girl (Ages 2-5), written by first-time author Naoko Stoop. I’ve mentioned before my weakness for Japanese-influenced picture books; and, like so many of her predecessors, Stoop (who grew up in Japan and now lives in Brooklyn) has created a work that holds together like a perfectly wrapped present: each word is chosen with the utmost care, each picture serves a clear purpose. In a wholly original move, Stoop’s expressive, whimsical watercolors of a little girl and her woodland friends, on a quest to speak to the moon, are painted on pieces of plywood; children can actually see the grain of the wood shining through the paintings, an effect which is especially fitting for a story set in the forest.
But it’s Stoop’s heroine that inspires me to want to read this book to my children (especially my daughter) for years to come. I love Red Knit Cap Girl. I love her curiosity, as she “wonders about flowers, butterflies, leaves, and clouds”—but most of all “about the Moon.” I love her pensiveness, as she experiments with different ways to reach the Moon. I love her courage, as she holds tight to her white bunny and journeys into the darkest part of the forest to ask Owl for advice. I love her leadership and her inclusion of others, as she rallies her forest friends to prepare a celebration to get the Moon’s attention, an affair full of handcrafted paper lanterns. I love her patience, as she waits and waits for the Moon and doesn’t give up. I love her ability to admit that she was mistaken, as only after she has extinguished the lanterns and waited quietly in darkness does “the Moon come out at last.” I love that the Moon is female-personified (none of this man-in-the-moon stuff), and I love her message to Red Knit Cap Girl: “You have made it dark enough to see me and quiet enough to hear me.”
Most of all, I love Red Knit Cap Girl’s interpretation of this message, delivered in the last sentence of the book: “Now Red Knit Cap Girl knows the Moon will always be there for her.” What a wonderful ally for our daughters (and sons) to have as they tuck into bed at night.
Other Favorites About Trying to Reach the Moon:
Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, by Eric Carle (Ages 2-4)
Kitten’s First Full Moon, by Kevin Henkes (Ages 2-4)
Moon Plane, by Peter McCarty (Ages 2-4)
Bringing Down the Moon, by Jonathan Emmett (Ages 2-4)
I Took the Moon for a Walk, by Carolyn Curtis & Alison Jay (Ages 2-4)
Many Moons, by James Thurber & Louis Slobodkin (Ages 5-8)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin (Ages 7-12)
What to Read to Your Kids 
What a beautifully written post! My kids are moon obsessed, too. In the same genre, I love reading “How to Catch a Star” by Oliver Jeffers and “Grandfather Twilight” by Barbara Berger; two I know you know as well!