Hello, friends! In honor of the solar eclipse, JJ and thought we’d pick a special book to celebrate, and we did so from our home library: Many Moons, written by James Thurber and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin, a clever tale of childhood innocence, hope, and wisdom.

The Princess Lenore had grown very ill, so her father the King offers to bring her anything in the world to comfort her. Lenore has one not-so-simple request: the moon. She assures her father that if she has the moon, she will be well again. The King is eager to help his daughter in any way, and so he calls upon his royal advisors who, despite being able to list their accomplishments at tedious length, all insist that the moon is too far, too large, and too unstable to bring to the princess. But the King’s clever yet kind court jester may have just the idea to bring the moon Lenore wishes for.

This is sort of an odd story, but it has such a sweet, innocent and optimistic resolution, and one that involves a child being far cleverer than the adults around her, that its charm cannot be denied. In doing a bit of research for our review, I found that the story has actually been illustrated by two different artists (there is another version with Marc Simont as illustrator), but I am partial to Slobodkin’s spare, squiggly art that captures the childlike tone perfectly. Now, a few downsides: this one is a bit too long for baby bookworms and, being published in 1943, there are some regrettable art and language choices (the two I noticed were use of the word “midget” and a racist depiction of a minstrel). These are very minor to the plot and story, but should be mentioned nonetheless. If you can get past them, though, this is an otherwise lovely story of young imagination, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!