Laura Purdie Salas has long been one of our favorite authors (see previous reviews for Water Can Be… and A Leaf Can Be…) In her newest, If You Were the Moon* illustrated by Jaime Kim, Salas reaches new heights.
Combining spare, imaginative text with denser scientific explanations, this book has potential for a multitude of uses. It can be a lovely bedtime book, the basis for a language arts lesson, or a great accompaniment to a lesson on the solar system.
Salas must inspire her illustrators to greatness, because Jaime Kim’s art positively shines.
If You Were the Moon is a must have for budding astronomers and poets everywhere.
See for yourself in this book trailer:
Related Activities:
1. Visit Laurie Purdie Salas’s website for downloadable teaching guides (long and short versions) and other goodies.
2. In the longer teaching guide, the author reveals that If You Were the Moon began as a list poem. Some of the earliest list poems were by Sei Shonogan, a Japanese writer/poet who lived around the year 1000. Here’s an example from The Pillow Book:
Things that Pass by Rapidly
A boat with its sail up.
People’s age.
Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter.
~ Sei Shonogan
My own example (see more here):
Things my cat George likes:
Rubbing faces when he gets up in the morning
A dropped Cheerio
The top of the cat-scratching post
Chasing ping-pong balls down the stairs
Things I like:
My cat George
Encourage children to try writing a list poem.
3. See our growing list of poetry books about space at Science Books for Kids.
Age Range: 4 – 8 years
Publisher: Millbrook Press (March 1, 2017)
ISBN-10: 146778009X
ISBN-13: 978-1467780094