Stars: *****
Summary: Influenced by Native American folktales, this fascinating story deals with bullying, self-confidence, and understanding the phases of the moon. After the sun insults and bullies her, the moon gets very upset and disappears – much to the chagrin of rabbits who miss their moonlight romps. With the help of her friends, the moon gains more self-confidence each day until she is back to her full size. The “Creative Minds” section explains the phases of the moon and helps to answer those pesky questions like “why is the moon up during the day?”, or “why does the shape of the moon change? Moon crafts and games supplement the understanding. 
Illustrator: Ben Hodson
Sylvan Dell Publishing 2006
32 pages Ages 6-10
978-0-9764943-4-8 (Hardcover)
$15.95
As I’ve mentioned before (Animals are Sleeping), Sylvan Dell Publishing’s motto is Science and Math Through Literature. After every story is quite a few pages of something called For Creative Minds which contains all sorts of fun and educational info and activities for further learning.
In the Creative Minds section for this book you’ll find general moon observations which defines words such as phases, lunar, waxes, crescent, gibbous, full moon etc… as well as the Native American names for the moons (Wolf Moon, Grass Moon, Fruit Moon etc….) There are activities to do such as charting the moon for a month, making edible moon cookies and making a phases of the moon wheel. There is also info on how the moons orbit around the earth. There is a quick paragraph about bullies too as the sun bullies the moon in the story.
The Creative Minds section is great for kids who just love to learn and for homeschooling families who are looking for activities to do with their kids on certain subjects.
The story itself is very well done, here’s an excerpt:
“The moon tried to start dancing again, but the sun’s words tormented her. Her arms and legs seemed to heavy to twirl. She felt very alone in the heavens. She slowly walked along her skypath, hanging her head. Her body began to shrink until she was jus a sliver of her former self.”
The book has won some awards and honours which you can see on the Sylvan Dell page for the book as well as view and print out the creative minds activities and see other helpful items such as reviews, quizzes, author interview and related websites.
Thanks to Elaine from PR By the Book for a copy of this great book.
About Kathleen
