Many Moons

Author: James Thurber

Illustrator: Louis Slobodkin 

Awards: Caldecott 

Grade Level: Pre-K to 3rd

Summary:
Princess Lenore becomes ill and tells her father, the King, that the only thing that will make her better is if he gets her the moon. Unable to accomplish this task, he asks the help from the wisest men he knows. with each person that he asks, the moon seems to get larger and further away and even more impossible to get for his daughter which makes him very angry. Luckily a jester comes to his rescue with the idea of asking the daughter how big and far away she thinks the moon actually is. She responds that it is the size of tip of her fingernail and just right above the trees. The jester relates that back to the kind with a small necklace to represent it is the moon. The king becomes angry because the moon is still in the sky and his daughter will know that her necklace isn't real so he asks all the wise men how the moon can be in the sky and on his daughter's necklace. They tell him different ways that he could trick his daughter but they would all result in her not getting better so once again the Jester comes to the rescue. He asks the princess how the moon can be in the sky and on her necklace. She responds that when one moon disappears another one must replace it just like a child's tooth, flowers and a unicorns horn.

Evaluation:
This is a super cute book that I would read to my class to spark creativity. I would follow this with an activity where they get to make the moon a tell me what it is made out of. This book could also be used to teach plot to students as the characters remain the same and it is very easy to understand.