Moon Forest

K-Gr 2—MacCarthy skillfully renders the sights and sounds of a forest under the "great white eye of the moon" in this bedtime story. The lush illustrations fill every corner of the spreads, exposing the nocturnal activity of forest animals. Using colored pencils, she captures the silvery light of a moon filtered through dense trees, illuminating a diverse array of flora and fauna native to the English countryside that inspired her. Readers will linger over these detailed pictures that are teeming with life: deer, snails, rats, badgers, foxes, bats, and more. Tinged with moonlight, the images have an almost magical feel, but the story stays rooted in reality through the text, which reads like the field notes of a biologist with a penchant for drama. The narrative is complex, using advanced syntax and vocabulary, and is set in swirling, stylized fonts, making Moon Forest better suited for shared, rather than independent, reading. The book is an excellent entry point for teaching about forest habitats and descriptive writing techniques.—Nora Clancy, Teachers College Community School, New York City