And If The Moon Could Talk by K. Banks

 K

Banks, K. (1998). And if the moon could talk. France. Gallimard Jeunesse. 32 pp. (Grade Level: K-2nd)

           

            The story in this tranquil picture book centers on a young girl getting ready for bed. Parallels are drawn between the scene with her at home with her parents and with other bedtime scenes the moon sees around the world. At the end, the little girl falls asleep and dreams, and "the moon murmurs goodnight"(31-32).

            The prose was well chosen; words that sooth and calm and predicts stifled yawns. The pictures are an imprecise blur where images and ideas are still perceivable, but aids in inducing sleep. This would be a difficult book to include in the curriculum because it is a bedtime story. However, it could be used when talking about different cultures and people and their nocturnal habits. In one picture, it seems as if a farming community is preparing for bed, and in another it is a nomadic group in the dessert. Discussion focusing on the bedtime rituals of different peoples around the world would be appropriate, and lead into an observation that even the students in the classroom have different bedtime habits although they live in the same area.