Hello, Harvest Moon

Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: Picture this: Sunday morning following Halloween. The living room is littered with boxes full of costumes that need to go back into the attic. Bags of candy adorn several tables. Wrappers adorn the floor. I get up early, before the others, to try to put the Halloween genie back into his bottle. One by one, the others rise and descend the stairs. I can see each foot and then the pj'd body appear on the stairs from where I'm sitting. Piled next to me are some books that arrived from amazon.com on Friday, unnoticed due to the holiday festivities.
Sarah, 6, has on only her pj bottoms (silky ones that she rubs when she sucks her thumb) and her hair bears just the remembrance of ponytails and bows. She climbs up into my lap and curls into her comfy spot like an old cat. As she sucks her thumb with one hand, she uses the other to pick through the books on the side table. She finds Hello, Harvest Moon and unearths it from the pile, ignoring the clatter of the other books falling to the floor.
"This one looks like a Halloween book. Hello.. har.. vessst.. moon, hello, harvest moon. Mom, will you read this one to me?"
I start to read.
Billy, 10, who had been reading another of the purchases on a loveseat across the room, looks up and then down and then up again, shutting his book. Sami, 17, who is puttering around in the kitchen making herself some breakfast, glides into the room and stands near my chair. As I read, the sounds of morning are silenced. When I finish, Billy gets up and continues with whatever he was doing and Sami heads back to the kitchen. I ask Sarah, "Well, what did you think? Did you like it?"
"Yes," she states emphatically, slimy thumb by her side. "I think it is a book of poetry. Seems like non-fiction, too."

Readers of all ages who know Ralph Fletcher's work will not be disappointed with his new picture book, Hello, Harvest Moon. Many who know his book Twilight Comes Twice have been waiting for another book of its kind from Ralph. His poetic voice and beautiful sensory image writing are unmatched. Teachers in my school go back to his books over and over again to help young writers as they work on sound and imagery in their writing.

Hello, Harvest Moon speaks for itself. Listen to the sound and picture the images:

"sprinkling silver coins
like a careless millionaire
over ponds, lakes, and seas,
till all the money is spent.
.... you might catch the moonset:
a sleepy head

winking
falling
slow motion
onto its pillow."

Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: Picture this: Sunday morning following Halloween. The living room is littered with boxes full of costumes that need to go back into the attic. Bags of candy adorn several tables. Wrappers adorn the floor. I get up early, before the others, to try to put the Halloween genie back into his bottle. One by one, the others rise and descend the stairs. I can see each foot and then the pj'd body appear on the stairs from where I'm sitting. Piled next to me are some books that arrived from amazon.com on Friday, unnoticed due to the holiday festivities.
Sarah, 6, has on only her pj bottoms (silky ones that she rubs when she sucks her thumb) and her hair bears just the remembrance of ponytails and bows. She climbs up into my lap and curls into her comfy spot like an old cat. As she sucks her thumb with one hand, she uses the other to pick through the books on the side table. She finds Hello, Harvest Moon and unearths it from the pile, ignoring the clatter of the other books falling to the floor.
"This one looks like a Halloween book. Hello.. har.. vessst.. moon, hello, harvest moon. Mom, will you read this one to me?"
I start to read.
Billy, 10, who had been reading another of the purchases on a loveseat across the room, looks up and then down and then up again, shutting his book. Sami, 17, who is puttering around in the kitchen making herself some breakfast, glides into the room and stands near my chair. As I read, the sounds of morning are silenced. When I finish, Billy gets up and continues with whatever he was doing and Sami heads back to the kitchen. I ask Sarah, "Well, what did you think? Did you like it?"
"Yes," she states emphatically, slimy thumb by her side. "I think it is a book of poetry. Seems like non-fiction, too."

Readers of all ages who know Ralph Fletcher's work will not be disappointed with his new picture book, Hello, Harvest Moon. Many who know his book Twilight Comes Twice have been waiting for another book of its kind from Ralph. His poetic voice and beautiful sensory image writing are unmatched. Teachers in my school go back to his books over and over again to help young writers as they work on sound and imagery in their writing.

Hello, Harvest Moon speaks for itself. Listen to the sound and picture the images:

"sprinkling silver coins
like a careless millionaire
over ponds, lakes, and seas,
till all the money is spent.
.... you might catch the moonset:
a sleepy head

winking
falling
slow motion
onto its pillow."

Rating:
Summary: Get your facts
Review: The illustrations in this book are beautifully done and the text flows nicely but for an author and illustrator who are or were from New Hampshire and Vermont the facts are wrong for the areas seemingly depicted in the book. The illustration look like New England and moonflowers would prpbably have been killed by frost or would definitely be winding down, sea turtles nest at the furthest north in Virginia and would mostly be hatched out, and luna moths are long gone. There are lots of great things that occur around the harvest moon, these aren't some of them. Children's books should be factual even if they are fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely Moon
Review: This book, like the Harvest Moon it celebrates, "...floods us with dreams and memories..." [page 29] through its magical complement of word and brushwork. The hauntingly lovely illustrations, which will captivate the eyes of the young and old, conduct us through a nature flight with a very special and unobtrusive guide whose words perfectly reflect the reverence and mystery of the visual experience.

A niggling complaint about the "facts" of the book ("The illustration look like New England ...and sea turtles nest at the furthest north in Virginia") suggests the reviewer has read the book and missed the experience. It is not a nature guide, but an exploration of nature's beautiful changes, and our emotional responsiveness, both in and out of nature. Einstein, for whom facts held some sway, nonetheless thought "Imagination...is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." I think one of my fellow reviewers has missed the magic of 'Hello, Harvest Moon' for the trees. The book is a marvelous accomplishment.