The Moon Tonight is a children's book and was written by Jung Chang-hoon and illustrated by Jang Ho.

Summary: This book explains the moon phases and lunar cycles as viewed from earth.

My Thoughts: I didn't care for this book. It is educational, but the words were not engaging, and the book really didn't hold my interest.

The book description states this is a story of a father and daughter discovering the moon together, but I failed to see that in the book-not even in the pictures. There wasn't a real story line, and the book felt disjointed throughout. It was very much here is what the moon looks like now. Here is what it looks like now.

The different phases could have been tied together more smoothly, and I found myself wanting to speed through it just to finish.

I actually found it most interesting when the author began to talk about how people tracked the moon in the past, and I think that would have been a better way to bring more story to this book.

If it would have started with early humans and how they tracked the moon, and then tied it forward in history to today, it would have made for a more engaging story.

I did like the questions and answers section as it had good solid questions children might ask along with interesting answers. That section would have made for a great book as well had it been drawn out.

And I did enjoy the pictures. They were very unique and I liked them.

Overall, I think I liked the idea of this book better than the execution, and I don't think it would engage most children-even if they really enjoyed learning about the moon.

I would like to thank Blue Dot Kids Press for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

A nice, multi-level picture book. The primary text is nearly a poem, an artistic exploration of watching the moon and seeing how it changes throughout its cycle. We also get a lot more information about lunar cycles, the moon's proximity to the earth, etc. Very cool, artistic and informative.

The Moon Tonight: Our Moon's Journey Around Earth, written by astronomer Jung Chang-hoon and illustrated by Jang Ho, is a children's nonfiction book translated into English by Paige Morris. Everyone on Earth can look up and marvel at our moon in the night sky. It is an experience we share across cultures and continents. As our closest celestial neighbor, the moon touches on many aspects of our lives and has inspired interest from people across centuries. In The Moon Tonight, you can share that same sense of wonder with your child through the eyes of a father-daughter duo as they learn the science behind the twenty-nine-day lunar cycle and the moon’s four phases: crescent, quarter, full, and new. With age-appropriate and easy-to-follow scientific explanations this picture book offers families a reading experience that is both poetic and educational.

The Moon Tonight: Our Moon's Journey Around Earth is a wonderful book for a young reader to explore alone, or to share with an adult. There is a great deal of information about the moon, its cycles, and how it effects our oceans. I thought the text was straightforward and easy to understand and follow, with no moments of condescension that is sometimes found in nonfiction books for children. Credit for this can go to the author and the translator- since they both had a hand in the English version of the book working as well as it did. I thought the illustrations were lovely and added a great deal to the read. I also loved learning a few new proverbs and lore that relate to the moon. I thought I could remember all my moon facts from my school days when I took astronomy, but this children's book reminded me of information long forgotten and/or taught me a few new things.

I remember when my child first noticed the moon in the daytime sky. Mind blown. This book does a great job explaining the moon’s phases, and pairs it with where you’d expect to find the moon in the sky at different times of day and night. A great guide, if you’re wanting to get a little moongazing done with your little ones!

Each 2-page spread is dedicated to a different phase of the moon, from new all the way to full and back down, in quarters. There’s also the obligatory “whine a flashlight on a ball” experiment, to explain why we see phases, as well as a section explaining the tides and lunar calendars. It’s quite comprehensive, and very interesting!

My 5-year old was a bit young for this, attention-wise, and she’s normally pretty good at paying attention to books. So I’d suggest 6 years and up. If your little reader is into early chapter books, they’ll probably manage on their own, at least until the final 4 pages, which are almost entirely text and more technical.

The artwork! Very sepia-toned! Which makes sense, to me, for the moon. Despite it being bright white in the sky, there’s something very sepia about my memories of the moon. I also love the softness of the illustrations. My favorite has to be for the last-quarter moon, which has a very wide-angle landscape, but the artist still added the delightful detail of a tiny creature–cat, mouse, squirrel?–on a roof. The white fur of the creature contrasts with the dark landscape, but matches the moon perfectly.

I really loved this. Thanks to the publisher for providing an advanced review copy.

This is such lovely book that proves non-fiction doesn't have to be dry. It can be soft and dreamy and beautiful! This is a great introduction to the moon--its phases. how we see it, how it affects us on Earth. The explanations are clear and simple and the art is just breathtaking! Kids will learn a great deal without being intimidated or deprived of a sense of wonder. This would be a fantastic addition to school and classroom libraries for middle grades.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

A beautiful book about all of the phases of the moon. As seen through the eyes of a young girl (and her father).

I loved it myself. Kids will LOVE it too. The illustrations are fun and immersive into the story, while being kind of scientific at the same time. Perfect!

Astronomer Jung Chang-hoon shares many facts with readers about the moon, it’s phases, and vocabulary words. The art style is beautifully dreamy and perfect for a book about the moon. I did struggle however with how fact heavy the book was, especially with an art style that suggests a story, or at least more of a narrative non-fiction feel. It felt very dry for a children’s book.

This wonderful picture book carefully explains all the phases of the moon, and when best to see them in the sky. The illustrations are lovely and soothing. There's even an experiment that uses a ball and a flashlight so you can try making your own changing moon.

I love this book. The main text simplifies the stages of the moon. It also gives more details in smaller print. I teach 2nd grade. This book is perfect to use the main text to teach primary grades yet the more information that is added below is great for higher readers. The pictures in the book are amazing. They show the moon in the sky, but also makes it personal as the girl narrator is also shown. This touch makes the moon seem less like a far off unfamiliar entity. I love how each layout shows how the moon looks in the sky as early evening turns to dawn. I feel like this simple children’s picture book has a lot of depth and meaning. I would definitely recommend it.

This stunningly illustrated picture book is all about the moon, it's phases, why it looks like it does in the sky and it's effects on the earth. Readers will go back to this one, not only for the very interesting information, but the art work, which is beautifully rendered. I'm going to order it for my school library RIGHT NOW.

An excellent picture book that would complement any astronomy or seasonal study! The illustrations are beautiful and the information is actually quite interactive. I would highly recommend if your kiddo is interested in the moon and it’s phases in beautiful depth.

Thank you, NetGalley!

This beautifully illustrated book with acrylic drawings teaches kids about the moon's different phases in an easy understandable way. It highlights the origin of moonlight and the effect the moon has on the Earth's tides. It shares with the reader how the moon circles around the earth and why only parts of the moon are exposed during that journey.

The beauty and wonderment of the moon in the night sky is an experience shared across cultures and continents. It points out the science behind the twenty-nine-day lunar cycle and the moon's four phases: crescent, quarter, full, and new.

This book would be a great addition not only in a home setting but also in a classroom and elementary school library. The author has added experiments and other information at the end of the book which add to the richness of this non-fiction book. I highly recommend it.

This was a very informative book all about the moon and its phases. It had some experiments kids can do as well to interact with the book and better understand the science.

A beautifully illustrated, carefully designed, richly informative book like this can always find a home in a public or school library. The phases of the moon and the tides as well as a few tidbits of extra information are covered here, in a gorgeous exceptional work. I strongly recommend this book for purchase for individual families as well.

I received an electronic ARC from Blue Dot Kids Press through NetGalley.
Informative and interactive text about the phases of the moon. Chang-hoon shows readers how the moon journeys around the Earth and why it seems to show only parts of itself throughout the cycle. Lovely softly colored illustrations pull readers in to look at and for the moon. I appreciate the experiments and other information shared at the end.

Kelly Barnhill’s novella The Crane Husband is a darkly grim reimagining of and response to the Crane Wife folktale. A tough read thanks to its bleak near-future setting and dark focus on abuse and family dysfunction, and at times quite blunt in fable fashion, it’s also a rewarding read thanks to its lovely sparse language and strongly voiced narrator.

The story is set in the run-down and nearly abandoned rural Midwest, a few steps into the future where farmland is owned by a single far-away large conglomerate that raises monocultured, cloned corn via drones and “driverless tractors and remote-control harvesters.” As our narrator notes in an example of that vivid prose, “No one was a farmer anymore. No one touched the dirt anymore. No one walked through the endless rows, their fingers whispering along the dark green leaves. No one was allowed — not us, not strangers, not animals . . . the drones moved back and forth, guarding a world made only for corn.”

Barnhill opens with an unexpected and unsettling line — “The crane came in through the front door like he own the place” — and things spiral downward from there. Our narrator is an unnamed 15-year-old girl who has taken on the role of practical adult (and mother to her younger brother) in the family after the death of her father from illness since her mother is a somewhat flighty artist who in addition to spending most of her time creating massive multi-modal tapestries has a series of temporary lovers. At first, the narrator thinks the crane will fall into that same characterization, but instead he becomes a fixture in their home, filling the house with feathers and physically and emotionally abusing her mother, who becomes more and more obsessed with her current project (driven by the crane) to the point of neglecting her own health and her children’s well-being. When a social worker enters the picture and the threat arises of losing her little brother, the narrator has to decide how far she is willing to go to protect those she loves.

The prose, as noted, is a major strength in the novella, with a good sense of rhythm an language and a nice sense of the sharp details, such as the hat worn by the crane at a “jaunty angle” or the way its wearing her father’s old shoes when they first meet it. The narrator herself is impossible not to empathize with — fierce, loving, protective, smart, resourceful, and despite all that trapped in a nightmare she can’t escape while she does all she can to hold her family together even as she bears witness to its slow dissolution. The themes, meanwhile, are complex, exploring a range of issues such as the obligations one has to self, to art, to family; the role, impact, and commodification of art; social constraints on women, self-sacrifice — its cost, rewards, and limits; the dehumanizing effect of technology.

The story reads like a fable, and therefore may evoke different responses. Personally, I prefer my writing to be a bit less on the nose and so the narrative was at times too bluntly, too overt in its conveyance of idea and theme, whether that came through dialogue or dream sequences, or the like. And the narrator’s epiphany about the crane in their house came a bit implausibly late for me. But outside of those complaints, The Crane Husband is a movingly dark and vividly written fable for contemporary times.

This beautifully designed and well-written book provides a great deal of information presented in several ways--narrative text, informational text, and illustrations--as well as engaging full-page illustrations. It not only informs readers, it also appeals to our emotions. Definitely merits multiple readings to carefully examine each page for memorable details. A very useful read aloud for science studies and a great addition to home and classroom libraries.

This book teaches about the faces of the moon and other related facts through beautiful illustrations, detailed text and informative graphics. I think that readers will find this book interesting and enjoy looking at the pictures while learning information about the moon. I think that teachers needing to teach about the moon in science would also appreciate this text. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

This one was a bit hard to read because of the formatting.

Overall this was a great informative children’s book.

I enjoyed learning as I read and seeing the pictures that went so well with the words on each page.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. An excellent kids non-fiction book about the phases of the moon. The artwork is spectacular.