I have been thinking quite a bit lately about the definition of a Picture Book (I am working as a judge for our CBCA Book of the Year awards - Picture Book of the Year). In essence a picture book should be a marriage of words and illustrations. Some people might say the length of the book could be a criteria but I disagree. This book - When the Moon forgot has 80 pages - and yes it most certainly is a picture book. So length is not a relevant criteria.
Here are the Caldecott criteria which define a picture book (Horn Book Magazine)
A “picture book for children” as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised.
A “picture book for children” is one for which children are an intended potential audience. The book displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations. Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen and picture books for this entire age range are to be considered.
The visual text is essential to the understanding of the message: it clarifies, complements, extends or sometimes even takes the place of the verbal text. Pepelt
I think when the Moon forgot is a simply perfect picture book. The first six pages are wordless. We see something in a small pond. The young boy scoops it out with his butterfly net and he rushes home. Meanwhile people are beginning to see the effect of the missing moon - the tides don't change and the night sky is dark. A rocket that was heading to the moon is now lost in space.
People everywhere are worried so someone (could it be the government or an opportunistic manufacturer?) decide to make replacement moons - hundreds of them. Everyone buys one and now no one is afraid. Including a replacement moon into daily life and into children's games becomes the norm.
But what of the boy who found the real moon? The boy and his new friend also play together and enjoy amazing adventures but it is clear one day the moon must return to his home in the sky. Meanwhile those substitute moons are now being discarded and other fads take over.
"People don't seem to love their moons anymore. They toss them away. The weather gets stranger and stranger. One warm day, the sky fills with snow. Old moons pile up on street corners. The boy dreams that monsters are lurking down alleys and hiding in sewers. It feels like everything in the world has been abandoned. Is there anyone who can help?"
We follow the events over eight wordless pages until something magical happens and we reach a sweet and very satisfying ending. Now you need to go back and read this book again because there are messages here about consumerism, absent parents, friendship, imagination, care and responsibility, courage and persistence.
This is a translated picture book from Taiwan. Here is the original title 月亮忘記了 Sadly this book from 2009 is now out of print.
Jimmy Liao (Chinese: 廖福彬; pinyin: Liào Fúbīn, born November 15, 1958) is a Taiwanese illustrator as well as a picture book writer. The name Jimmy is his English first name which brought about his (phonetic) Chinese pen name, 幾米.
I would pair this book with:
Here are two other truly special books by Jimmy Liao:
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