Moon Pops

Product Information

I absolutely loved this story and I loved the papery, collage-style illustrations accentuated by the glowing yellow of the melted moon. Illustrated in otherworldly mixed-media dioramas, this quirky and colorful picture book spins a new story from the common East Asian fable of the rabbit in the moon. When Granny discovers that the moon is melting—the dripping luminescent moon makes for a surreal and indelible image—she catches some drops in a bucket and whips up a batch of glowing moon pops, which cool everyone off. For the older children, science lessons could be designed around studying the properties of matter (when the moon is solid and liquid) and the phases of the moon shown at the end of the book.

Baek’s use of onomatopoeia makes for a fun read-aloud for young readers, and her mixed media and collage illustrations result in a unique style that further captures the attention.I had *no* idea what was coming next while I read Moon Pops by this 2020 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award-winning author-illustrator - and I love that about it. Author-illustrator Heena Baek won the 2020 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and this is the first of her books to be published in English. I thought it was interesting that the story glossed over the fact that this is a folktale to explain the cycles of the moon, and I would love to discover why Baek made that choice.

For the younger children, they could have activities with how the characters feel and what would make them feel that way.

The art is a mix of photo backgrounds and cut out drawings of anthropomorphic wolf-like creatures in the foreground.

Baek lights them with glowing touches of the moon, lemony yellow lights that illuminate the darkness and provide comfort and connections. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. She is an internationally acclaimed Korean children’s book author and illustrator and has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.At first unsure what to do with the drops, she is soon inspired to turn them into popsicles—moon pops!

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Readers will appreciate the fun and a bit different story plus enjoy looking through the pages to see the wide variety of materials used in the illustrations.This book came to my attention because it was an honor recipient of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. The entire book is marvelously crafted with a languid slowness of the heat at first and then the drama of the melting moon. Based on the Korean fable of the moon rabbit, the tale takes place in a multistory apartment building at night.