Hello, Harvest Moon

Like their Twilight Comes Twice, this quiet meditation on the beauty of the harvest moon is a visual and linguistic pleasure. The book begins with the moon's rising, "lifting free of the treetops" and shining through a girl's bedroom window, then moves outward to explore the ways in which the moon's light affects other people and animals. Kiesler's oil paintings gleam with soft light as the girl and her cat watch luna moths and admire the fall foliage of the birch trees "double-dipped in moonlight." Text and art together create a sense of wonder at the beauty of open milkweed pods, "like tiny moonlings/ floating/ up to their mother" or a spider web etched in moonlight. Beginning with the close-up of the girl and her cat, poet and artist widen the perspective to incorporate other nighttime activity—a plane overhead, a night watchman, various animals and eventually, the pull of the moon on the earth's waters as it "grab[s] whole oceans with its arms." Fletcher's lyrical, child-friendly images will linger in readers' minds. With a gentle nod to Margaret Wise Brown, the child's morning is the moon's setting ("a sleepy head winking/ falling/ slow motion/ onto its pillow"), and the book ends appropriately with the girl bidding, "Good night, harvest moon." Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Copyright 2003 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.