Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Moondog
Picture Book
For ages 3 to 5
Penguin, 2005 ISBN: 0698400313
Moondog has a very happy quiet life living on the dark side of the moon. He cleans and dusts the moon every day and he plays with the stars and rides moonbeams. Then one day a spaceship arrives. In it there is a monkey who has been sent from Earth to collect moon rocks. The people on Earth have made such a mess of their planet that they need more room, they need "somewhere else to live." So, they have sent the monkey to the moon to collect rocks which they will test to see if the moon is good for building on.
Not surprisingly Moondog is not in the least bit interested in having a lot of messy, polluting humans coming to his moon and ruining it with their shops, malls, houses and parking lots. There must be something that he can do to keep them away. There also must be something that the humans can do to make their home planet a better place to live. Thankfully Moondog is not only a great moon keeper, he is also very clever and between them Moondog and the monkey come up with a clever plan to save both the moon and, incidentally, Earth as well.
With unique cartoon style art rendered in bright contrasting colors, this picture book is not only entertaining but it subtly conveys a simple environmental message about taking care of the natural beauties of the place where you live.
