Day: January 26, 2011

Sweet Moon Baby: An Adoption Tale

| Tasha

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Sweet Moon Baby: An Adoption Tale by Karen Henry Clark, illustrated by Patrice Barton

This is an adoption story that takes a more fairy tale approach.  In China, perfect baby is born.  However, her parents don’t have enough food for themselves and worry about the future of this tiny baby.  So they put trust in the moon and send their baby away down the river.  On the journey, several animals help that baby.  While she sleeps, she is carried by a turtle, flown high by a peacock, sheltered by a monkey, and guided by a panda.   On the other side of the world, a family is waiting for a child.  While they wait, they prepare for her.  They create a garden, plant trees, build her a room, and fill it with pretty things and lots of books.  They know she is there, but where?  They travel long distances following the moon’s path.  And when the moon paths of the baby and the family meet, so do they.

So often adoption books are about the concrete steps taken from one family to the next.  It is a pleasure to read a book that is whimsical and magical about adoption.  Clark’s writing celebrates the connection between child and new family while paying homage to the birth family as well.  The entire book is suffused in a gentle beauty that allows anyone reading to know immediately that this is a joyous tale. 

Barton’s illustrations are particularly fine.  From the first two-page spread of the new baby and her bright-eyed beauty, the illustrations are captivating.  They have a subtle humor to them as well as a soft touch that matches the tone of the book.  Done in sketches and then digitally, the images have interesting textures.

A very successful fairy-tale telling of the adoption story, this book may not answer the questions of how an adoption takes place, but it does speak to the magical nature of love.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Knopf Delacorte Dell.

Up and Down: High Flying Friendship

| Tasha

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Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers

Jeffers continues his story of the friendship between a boy and penguin in this fourth book about the boy.  The boy and the penguin are great friends.  They do everything together.  But when the penguin decided that he had to learn to fly, he knew he had to do it on his own.  The boy tried to help, looking up information and trying to connect the penguin with flying experts.  But when the penguin figures out a solution, he heads off immediately to make it happen.   The boy had no idea where the penguin went.  The penguin finds himself alone and lost, unable to get in touch with his friend.  When the boy discovers where the penguin is, the question is whether he will be able to reach him in time to see his friend succeed or fall. 

This book is written with the same charming simplicity of the earlier books.  There is such a gentle and loving spirit to these books.  Yet they still have a spirit of adventure and surprise.  The friendship between the two characters is strong and true, supporting one another even if the other friend needs to do something on their own.  This is a touching story of real friendship.

Jeffers’ illustrations are done in the same style as the earlier books in the series.  They are done in a modern style that is infused with warmth from the charm of the characters and the bright colors. 

A fitting follow-up to Lost and Found, this book will appeal to fans of Jeffers and to new readers as well.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel Books.

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