The Boy and the Moon

by James Christopher Carroll (Illustrator), James Christopher Carroll

Overview

It's midnight - a special time of night, when anything can happen. Wide awake long past his bedtime, a young boy slips outside his house to join some special friends in a nighttime jubilation. Complete with howls and whoops, they joyously celebrate the mystery and magic of the night, basking in the glow of the moonlight. They howled at the moon, they howled at life, and they howled with all things in the night. But their revelry comes to a halt when the moon is caught in the branches of a tree. Is anyone brave enough to climb the tree and save the moon? Gorgeous atmospheric paintings lure readers of all ages into believing that anything can happen - at midnight! J. (Jim) Carroll's work has been displayed around the world, including at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science & Technology in Milan and at the United Nations in NYC. He has been an instructor at the School of Visual Arts and at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art. His work has also been featured in Zoom, HOW, PRINT and Communication Arts magazines. The Boy and the Moon is his first children's book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585365210
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	09/09/2010
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

Editorial Reviews

At midnight, a boy steps outside to howl and dance with animals under a swirling periwinkle sky in debut author/illustrator Carroll's story of moonlight revelry and a boy's ingenuity. When the moon gets stuck in a tree, the boy bravely ascends, feeding it apples and allowing the now "full" moon to roll out of the tree. There's an overall eerie feel to Carroll's artwork that won't appeal to all tastes--the degree to which the moon and a flower are personified feels especially strange next to the actual boy--but the story has an undeniable pull, as "They howled at the moon, they howled at life, and they howled with all the things in the night." Ages 4–6. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

One moonlight night, a small boy in star-embellished pajamas and his retinue of friends step out into the dark and "howl at the moon... at life and... all things in the night." When the crescent moon gets stuck in an apple tree neither owl or flower or toad or chicken are brave enough to rescue the moon and dog, although he tries, cannot climb the tree. The little boy puts aside his fear, climbs to the tree's top, and attempts to dislodge the now crying moon, woefully stuck. Then, the little boy gets a creative idea. He picks the apples and feeds them to the moon until it is full and round and can roll right out of the tree. With the moon safely back in the night sky, the howling resumes anew. Soft collage illustrations are replete with gentle swirls of color in a soft nighttime palette and texture in the branches of the tree and the face of the moon. The quiet and fantastical adventure is a perfect bedtime treat that will leave little ones satisfied with the hero's ingenuity and confidence. Reviewer: Beverley Fahey

Children's Literature - Beverley Fahey

Moonlit midnight revels nearly end in disaster until a small boy comes to the rescue. It's midnight, and a boy with a teddy bear, a dog, a rabbit, an owl, a chicken, a toad and a flower gather in the backyard to dance and howl at the moon in joyous abandon. Somehow the moon gets stuck in an apple tree, which brings the dancing and howling to a halt. Who can help the moon? Owl's afraid of heights, rabbit doesn't feel lucky, toad hides, the flower faints, chicken has a bellyache and dog can't climb trees. The boy, however, bravely scales the tree, but he can't dislodge the moon from its branches--until he uses what's available to save the night. Carroll's magical illustrations transform his simple plot into a luminous moonlight fantasy. Crafted from paint, found objects and natural textures, his collages in midnight blues and silvery whites bathe the cavorting revelers in ethereal moonlight. Close-ups of the anthropomorphized moon interacting with the pajama-clad boy add to the overall aura of magical realism. Marvelous nighttime madness. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews