20th July International Moon Day

International Moon Day marks the anniversary of the first landing by humans on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 lunar mission. This is an important event to commemorate, but I have done a blog entry on it before. I want to look at how else the moon appears in children's picture books. It is often personified and the reader gets to hear how it feels. It is also often associated with magic and night mischief.

Today I want to look at three moon stories that I love sharing with students where the moon has a very different role from being a place that astronauts visit. Rather it is something awe-inspiring, magical and even endearing.

1. Happy Birthday, Moon  by Frank Asch. Students love the fact that they have knowledge that the main character, Moonbear does not have. Some even shout out while I am reading to tell you that Moonbear doesn't understand how the moon works. Then when it comes to the echoing parts they have even more to say. It is a good example of the reader having the power, not the author or the main character.

2. Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle. It is Monica's wish to have the moon play with her and her papa tries to get it for her, not an easy task, but one a father tries in order to please his daughter. The paper engineering works with the suspense of the story and keeps the reader invested in the outcome. This book gets tatty in a library very quickly because of the pages that open outward and upward, but we replace it regularly so it can be loved all over again.

3. Ace Dragon Ltd by Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake. When I first read this book to a class, I had a small reader-size book which was mainly black and white, but nevertheless the story worked a treat. Years later  it was republished in a bigger format and with more colour. This made it even easier to maintain the students interest in the sword-wielding John and a dragon named Ace when they venture off into space. They land on the moon and have quite a quandary to solve.

Four well loved author illustrators, Frank Asch, Eric Carle, Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake, all with classic stories that have really gone the distance with young children!

Some other picture books where the moon holds magic for a young protagonist:

• Imani's Moon  by JaNay Brown-Wood and Hazel Mitchell

• Kiwi Moon  by Gavin Bishop

• The Moonkeeper  by Zosienka   (Zofia "Zosienka" Gibbs)

• Do You Speak English Moon?  by Francesca Simon and Ben Court

And if you do want to commemorate the moon landing, but from a slightly different viewpoint look for:

• A Kite for Moon by Jane Yolen, Heidi E. Y. Stemple and Matt Phelan

A young boy, seeing that Moon is lonely, sends up a kite to cheer her up, then after growing up and learning many things, he becomes the first human to visit her. Dedicated to Neil Armstrong and written in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the first U.S. moon landing.

• I Am the Moon by Nanae Aoyama and Satoe Tone 

The Moon finds that she is lonely and in need of a friend. She leaves her place in space and travels to Earth, in search of an astronaut who visited her many years ago.

4th January 2013 Sir Quentin Blake

The children I teach will be thrilled to hear that Quentin Blake has 'won an award' even if they do not fully understand what it means to get a knighthood. Blake was knighted in the 2013 New Year Honours for his services to illustration. He is probably the most recognised-by-children children's illustrator because of all the Roald Dahl and David Walliams novels he has illustrated. And these two authors are 'big' with the young audiences I work with.

He has been illustrating for so long, so this award has been a long time coming compared to those given to sportsmen, and he has such a wonderful stock from which to choose. He has the books he has both written and illustrated like  my favourites Mr Magnolia and Mrs Armitage, those he has done with Russell Hoban like my favourites ACE Dragon Ltd  and How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsmen and those with John Yeoman's like Beatrice and Vanessa and The Bear's Winter House. It is fitting that this new anthology of favourite stories he has both written and illustrated has appeared at this time.

You can watch him illustrate here.

PS Perhaps publishers could reconsider republishing ACE Dragon Ltd now that it is illustrated by a Sir!

13th December Russell Hoban RIP

Terrible news. Russell Hoban has died aged 86. Together with Dick King Smith this means two greats of the Children's Literature world have gone this year, one at the beginning of the year (January 5) and the other at the end.

I get so much pleasure watching and listening to children when I read Hoban's Whitbread prize winner How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsmen and my favourite Ace Dragon Ltd to them. They are also very animated about the Frances stories because they realise that Frances is really them not a badger.

Perhaps publishers will acknowledge Hoban's great contribution to children's books by reissuing Ace Dragon Ltd and I will pay homage to him by watching the wonderful Glenda Jackson movie of his book Turtle Diary.

4th February Russell Hoban (1925)

I have had some of the best Aidan Chambers' Book Talk sessions with books written by Russell Hoban. I love looking at the language in How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsmen. I have had groups of children try to play and or write rules for the games depicted in it. I have had groups of children laugh out loud at Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong and argue at great length about her bustle and iron hat and what she keeps in them. The two books about Tom and Captain Najork are 'not to be missed' books.

Another one that works equally well with classes is Ace Dragon Ltd, also illustrated by Quentin Blake. It is fun to discuss what Ltd stands for and then once the readers know to ask whether they think Ace was indeed limited. The concept of the moon being made of gold and being able to turn it into straw leads to comparisons with the fairytale Rumplestiltskin.

And lastly how could anyone ignore the books about Frances the badger. We don't have badgers in Australia, but that is irrelevant to enjoying these books. Frances could be any animal because she is just such a great example of anthropomorphism. Children relate to her rivalry with her sister, with her stalling of bedtime and her reluctance to try new foods and laugh at her. They wouldn't laugh at a child who does that because it would be too close to home. These stories were first published in the sixties but they have certainly stood the test of time. They are illustrated by his then wife, Lilian Hoban and in 1992 more colour was added to her original illustrations. Look for Bread and Jam for Frances, A Baby sister for Frances and my favourite Bedtime for Frances.