Beautiful Moon

Starred review from August 18, 2014
Bolden (Maritcha: A 19th Century American Girl) expands a pleasingly simple premise into a depiction of the profound possibility of prayer. It’s night. An “amber orb”—the moon—floats above the city, and a boy startles awake in bed, having forgotten to say his nightly prayers. Velasquez (My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart) shows the subjects of the boy’s prayers—“people with no homes,” the hungry, the lonely, “for wars to end.” His prayers move from his outer circle of concern to his inner, as the boy includes his parents, “Grandma Grace,” “Mikey, his turtle,” and his wish for his teacher “to read a story every day.” Velasquez’s illustrations, done in mixed media and oil on watercolor paper, convey mostly urban scenes in dark blues and browns, each illuminated by moonlight, which are both peaceful and full of detail. The book offers young readers plenty to look at, along with a simple message about the way prayer unites everyone, as the multicultural subjects in Velasquez’s gorgeous illustrations make clear. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Jennifer Lyons, Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content LLC.

October 1, 2014
A young boy's prayer brings home to readers all the people who need prayers in our world. Over a busy, rushing, noisy city, "The amber orb floats, / washing the night / with a radiant glow." A small black boy spies it when he hops out of bed to say his forgotten prayers, and underneath its beauty, he prays for the homeless, for an end to wars, for the sick and the hungry, and for those closest to him. Juxtaposed with the portrait of this young innocent kneeling at his bedside, the spreads that follow are stark: a woman bundled on a park bench, her belongings next to her; a man on a commuter train thinking of his faraway soldier daughter; a man in a hospital bed wishing for sleep to come; a couple searching bare cupboards and a line at a soup kitchen. Bolden and Velasquez hint at an equation between God's watchfulness and care with the light of the moon; in each of these mixed-media-and-oil scenes, the harvest moon shines down on all the diversity of the world and its many problems, and when the boy is snuggled back in bed, "the beautiful moon goes on its way."Prayer may seem like something from ancient history for many young children; this beautiful book brings prayer to the modern world and hauntingly shows just how needed it is. (Picture book/religious. 4-8)

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October 1, 2014

K-Gr 2-On a summer night, a full golden moon lights up the busy dark city streets and inspires the prayers of a boy who scrambles out of bed to kneel for the ritual he had forgotten. One by one, readers are shown four city scenes in which the moon shines over people oblivious to its beauty: a homeless woman huddling for warmth on a bench, a man on a commuter train thinking of his soldier daughter far away, an elderly man in his hospital room, and two "sad souls staring at bare kitchen cabinets." The child prays in turn "for people with no home...for wars to end...for the sick to be healed...for people, little and big, to have the food they need." Having covered these larger social needs, he moves on to more personal concerns, praying for family members, his turtle," for his teacher to read a story every day." Velasquez's double-page scenes are painted in dark tones with early light on the faraway armed soldiers and their helicopter and brighter warm tones in the foreground of the soup kitchen. The simple narrative, which juxtaposes social concerns with prayer lines attributed to the "little boy," seems most likely to resonate with adults. The tone of the youngster's personal prayers and the concluding view of him tucked back into bed are more childlike. The diverse people sharing the night, the realistic dilemmas of the people in need, and the handsome presentation should serve well as bedtime reading for families practicing daily prayer.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2014
Preschool-G *Starred Review* A young African American boy realizes that he has not said his prayers. As he climbs out of bed, he spots the moon gleaming in the sky. From there this book, with heartfelt simplicity, uses the moon as a beacon for those across the city in need of prayer. Among them are a woman resting on a park bench, trying to keep warm; a businessman on a train, worrying about his daughter fighting overseas; and a hospital patient gazing out his window, wishing for sleep. Though the boy cannot see any of these people, he prays for them instinctively in his thoughts for people with no homes, for wars to end, for the sick to be healed, and for those who are hungry to be fed. Then he prays for his family, for those close to him who make his own life so happy, and he prays that tomorrow he will remember to pray. This oversize volume is a beautiful weaving of word, art, and spirit. Bolden's restrained but eloquent text is matched by Velasquez's dark, almost brooding paintings. These nighttime scenes reveal people at their lowesthungry, sad, afraid. Yet just the intention behind the boy's words has a soothing effect. The palette brightens whenever people are shown helping, providing food or reading a story to children. A good starting place for discussion, this will give youngsters a sense of those in need as well as what's worth praying for.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)