IF YOU WERE THE MOON

In this inventive and spirited exploration, poetry and science come together to introduce young readers to the role of the moon in our lives here on Earth.

The book opens on a young, light-skinned girl reading in bed; there’s a telescope next to it. She looks out at the moon and says, “I wish I could do exactly nothing, just like you.” The personified moon answers back, offering poetic sentiments that note the several overlooked benefits and often misunderstood facts about our partner in space. The spare primary text is supplemented by blocks of text, set in a smaller font, that explicate it. (For scientific clarity, the illustrations and tidbits were guided and reviewed for accuracy by an astrophysicist.) The text moves through the phases of the moon, then into the role that the moon plays in the ocean tides, along to the world of moonlit nocturnal animals, and finally rounds out with the ways that the moon has been tied into world cultures, including the moon masks of the Baule people of the Ivory Coast and Emily Dickinson. Each illustration is tinged with starlight, making the book a pleasant nighttime read. It’s also apt for the classroom, as the glossary supports an introductory astronomy lesson.

Orbiting between poetic lullaby and astro-powered essentials, Salas and Kim provide a great addition to a nighttime-window reading shelf and/or early-science classroom.