Full Moon and Star

June 13, 2011
The team behind City I Love turns from love of place to love of friends in a story structured in three acts. After Katie and Kyle each write a play about friendship (Kyle's observes that two halves of the moon make one whole, while Katie's is about a star who longs to twinkle with her friend), they collaborate on the play that gives the book its titleâit's the best of the three, they believe. "Do you know why I love it best?" Katie asks. "Why?" "Because we did it together," she says. "We should always do things together." "I agree," Kyle says. Their plays are the small-scale, living room productions most kids and parents alike will recognize (each is no more than a couple of lines long). But Hall imagines them produced in real theaters in front of glamorously attired adults; his jaunty, New Yorker cartoonâstyle artwork greatly tempers the story's more cloying notes. While older children may be impatient with the pair's unrelenting cheer, the very young will appreciate the absence of tension. Ages 3â7.

July 1, 2011

Two young friends separately discover playwriting and then realize the benefits of cooperation.

The poet-and-illustrator team that created City I Love (2009) introduces the very young to another form of writing in this sweet and simple read-aloud: drama. Kyle and Katie, with their moonpie faces, serve as modern preschool versions of the archetypical comic-strip characters Nancy and Sluggo. Katie has black hair and the trademark red dress. Kyle has freckles and overalls. And although they are best friends, Kyle has written a play all by himself. Katie, seeing a good idea, follows up with her own play. The story switches between their backyard fun and stage performances complete with curtain calls, spotlights and audiences. When they decide to combine forces, the new play is elevated to parallel the love and loyalty shown between the two friends. This winsome tale is just another preschool story of cooperation. Yet the focus on playwriting and performance, complete with script formatting and special punctuation, sets a new stage for this common tale.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 1-Best friends Kyle and Kate each write a simple play, then affirm their friendship by writing a play together. Kyle's play, Moon, brings two halves of the moon together; Kate's play, Stars, features two twinkling stars; and their combined effort, Full Moon and Star, is an unabashed tribute to the joys of friendship. Hall's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are charming, with cartoon characters sporting round, oversize heads and a retro feel. From start to finish, the book has an eye-catching design, but the slight tale sinks under the weight of cloying sweetness and sentiment. This is a disappointing follow-up from the team who crafted the fabulous poetry collection City I Love (Abrams, 2009).-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011
Preschool-G In an offbeat but oddly engaging story in three acts, this picture book concerns two children who write and perform three brief plays. In Act One, Kyle presents Katie with the play he has written, and they perform it together. In Act Two, Katie writes her own play, and they put it on. After writing and performing a play together in Act Three, they agree always to do things together. It's hard to say what young children will make of the somewhat disjointed story, half of which unfolds in three scripts, complete with designated speakers, lines, and stage directions (always illustrated from the audience's point of view, these are potentially confusing to a child who has just learned left from right). However, creating a pleasing, retro look, Hall's ink-and-watercolor illustrations do capture the simplicity and innocence of the story in nicely composed pictures, glowing with warm colors. Scenes of the children in their yard alternate with scenes showing the glamour of imagined onstage performances. An unusual story of friendship with a strong theatrical motif.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)