The Moon Shines Down by Margaret Wise Brown

Held together by rusty paper clips and hidden in a trunk, the manuscript of The Moon Shines Down by Margaret Wise Brown was forgotten for decades. Unexpectedly discovered in a Vermont barn, the book was recently introduced to the world by Thomas Nelson. The text is based on the prayer “I See the Moon and the Moon sees me, God bless the Moon and God bless me.” Journeying around the world, readers are exposed to how the moon shines down on children in every country, and even the fish in the sea. Even the timing of night being different in different places is mentioned! Competently illustrated by Linda Bleck, of Pepper the Dog and other projects, the pictures offer lots of depth for children to explore time after time. In the days we’ve had this, Kate and Lexi have asked to read it many times, Kate proclaimed it “really fun” and said everyone should have a copy. As an adult reader, I found the text a little clumsier than other books by Margaret Wise Brown, but not unreadably so. I also noticed that most of the countries visited were very white (Holland, Switzerland, France, England, Australia) and though “the far east,” Mexico and Africa are visited, I wish more exploration of these unfamiliar and exciting places was included. Considering the fact that the text was written sixty years ago or more, that’s not a huge surprise, just something worth noting. Overall, this is a welcome addition to our family library (8.5/10)