The Mouse Who Ate the Moon

PreS-Gr 1—Little Mouse loves looking at the moon from her hole in the ground and wishes she could have a piece. It seems the moon, framed in a round window, has lost its bottom crescent. No wonder she thinks that the yellow banana she finds the next morning is her piece of moon. She nibbles the sweet-smelling fruit and is stricken by the thought that the moon can never be round again. Rabbit and Mole say that no one can eat the moon, but she keeps telling them she did. When it gets dark, her friends take Little Mouse to the top of a hill. Looking at the starry sky, she sees the moon as round and whole as ever. She and her friends finish eating the rest of her moon treat. The bold acrylic, pencil, and crayon illustrations feature clever peek-through cut-outs, with characters carefully positioned on dense blue and green landscapes. The pages, with sculptured corners, lead readers deeper into the story. The multidimensional artwork is a visual treat, and the gentle story is told with simplicity and wry humor. Whether the moon is made of cheese or bananas, "really nobody can eat [it]."—Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN