How high the moon? (Bringing Down The Moon - Jonathan Emmett)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Bringing Down The Moon - Jonathan Emmett
Date:	04/11/09 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lovely book for small children

Disadvantages: None

We are big fans of picture books in this house and even now my daughters are getting that little bit older, they are still firm favourites and they always make a bee line to this section in our local library. On a recent visit, one of the books that they picked up and absolutely loved was Bringing down the Moon by Jonathan Emmett.

This is a heart warming story about a delightful little character called Mole. One night he sees a shiny full moon high up in the sky and thinks that it is the most beautiful thing that he has ever seen! He doesn't actually know that it is the moon though but he does decide that he wants it so he keeps jumping up and down trying to reach it - which of course he is unable to do. His jumping up and down though makes such a thumping noise that he wakes up rabbit who was sleeping in his burrow. Rabbit tells Mole that the thing he is trying to reach is the moon and that it is actually much further away than it looks!

However, Mole is undeterred and he keeps going in his quest to catch the moon. He tries getting a stick to poke it down; he finds some acorns to throw up and knock it down; and he climbs a tree in order to fetch it down. In each attempt he is obviously unsuccessful but each time he does succeed in waking up a different woodland creature who all try to explain that he will never reach the moon.

Finally though he spots the reflection of the moon in a puddle and, thinking that he has been successful, reaches down to pick it up only for it to break into pieces as he disturbs the reflection. He is very upset, thinking that he has broken the moon and that he will never see it again. That is until all the other creatures point out that the moon is still up in the sky and that it still looks very beautiful. They do, however, point out to Mole for the last time, that it is actually further away than he thinks!

I think that this is such a beautiful book with its simple but moving storyline. Mole's thoughts are ones that most children might have had at sometimes and also his determination. All of the characters are gorgeous especially Mole who is very cute and I am sure that most young children will warm to them all.

For a picture book, there is a bit more text than I would usually expect, but this is good for slightly older children as this provides a more substantial storyline. We like the way that there is a repetitive style in the book with Mole keeping trying to bring the moon down, but failing and then disturbing another creature. The pattern starts to become familiar and my daughters appreciate this and it also inspires them to bring their own ideas to the story. For example one of them suggested that he might get a ladder but it would then fall on a sleeping field mouse and wake him up too. I always love it when we discover a book like this that seems to fire up my daughters' imaginations too.

The language used is quite straight forward although there are some wonderful alliterative phrases too. The stick goes 'swishety - swish' and the acorns go 'plinkety - plink' for examples and as these are written in capitals my daughters love emphasising the way they say these. Also the text is very manageable for my six year old daughter who is becoming quite independent in her reading now.

There are some beautiful illustrations provided by Vanessa Cabban especially ones of the shimmering silvery moon lighting up the night time sky. There is a lovely warmth to all the pictures but also quite a lot of humour too as Mole gets up to his various antics!

Overall this is a wonderful children's picture book which to me contains all the right ingredients - a great storyline with a certain amount of repetition, accessible text and fantastic illustrations. All of these contribute to a fabulous feel good feeling as you read it.

The book is published by Walker books and can be bought on Amazon for £4.99.

Summary: Great book!