Mama Moon: A Story About Love and Mental Health

by Noah Grigni, Noah Grigni (Illustrator)

Overview

Deeply felt and beautifully told, Mama Moon is the story of a child who muses that their mother is like the moon—ever changing, sometimes blue, sometimes bright.

Mama loves warm summers, and eating cherries while stargazing with Baba and Kiddo. But on her bluest of days, she can’t do the things that other mamas do.

Persevering with love, no matter what phase Mama is in, this family weathers the ups and downs of a loved one's illness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250424976
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	04/15/2025
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	119 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Noah Grigni is a queer, trans, freelance artist ‌in Atlanta, GA (stolen Muskogee land). They make art for and with their communities, who they define as trans youth and trauma survivors, in the South and beyond. They illustrate children's books, paint portraits, teach workshops, make comics, and design shirts. They love working with kids, and often visit schools to lead workshops on art, gender, and storytelling.
Noah Grigni is a queer, trans, freelance artist ‌in Atlanta, GA. They make art for and with their communities. They've illustrated books for children including the highly acclaimed It Feels Good to be Yourself by Theresa Thorn, and Mama Moon, their debut picture book as both author and illustrator. They love working with kids, and often visit schools to lead workshops on art, gender, and storytelling.

Editorial Reviews

★ "A realistic, poignant, and affirming family portrait."—Kirkus, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2025-02-15
Mama loves her child—even on “her bluest days.”

The young narrator lives in a house by the sea with a cat and with Baba and Mama—a devoted parent who lives with bipolar disorder. Like the moon, Mama is a guiding light in the narrator’s life, but she also waxes and wanes, shifting from depression to mania. At times, she struggles to get out of bed; she even misses the protagonist’s school concert. Not much of Mama’s mania is depicted, but at one point, she must spend time in the hospital. Luckily, steadfast Baba is there to keep the youngster grounded. Grigni’s rhyming text is gentle and honest, validating the child’s feelings of abandonment, helplessness, and anger while also making it clear that Mama’s actions aren’t the result of a moral failing or a lack of love. Inspired metaphors help drive home the book’s messages, such as “a heavy fog that hangs over her head,” with images of the child floating through the sky, encircled by a waxing moon. Tempering the difficult subject matter, the artwork has a graphic novel feel, with characters speaking in speech bubbles. In keeping with the lunar theme, hues of purple and blue dominate the pages. Mama is light-skinned, while Baba and the narrator are brown-skinned; some may read Mama and Baba as a queer couple.

A realistic, poignant, and affirming family portrait. (resources, author’s note)(Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews