The Moon Inside

by Sandra V. Feder, Aimée Sicuro (Illustrator)

Overview

Yellow is Ella’s favorite color — she loves the bright, sunny daytime. But every night, as darkness falls, she becomes afraid.

Yellow is Ella’s favorite color — she loves the bright, sunny daytime. But every night, as darkness falls, she becomes afraid. Her mother encourages her to look at the soft glow of the moon and fireflies dancing in the night. Ella listens to the chirping of crickets and the gentle rustling of the wind as she gradually realizes that nighttime can be something to look forward to rather than something to fear.

With sweet, luminous illustrations by Aimée Sicuro, this story will inspire parents and children to welcome the peaceful nature of nighttime into their homes and hearts.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554988235
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

SANDRA V. FEDER is the author of the highly acclaimed books in the Emotions and Me series, including Angry Me and Peaceful Me, illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell (Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year), and Shy Me and Lonely Me (the latter forthcoming in 2026), illustrated by Ashley Barron. Sandra’s other books include Bitter and Sweet, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker (a PJ Library selection), and The Moon Inside, illustrated by Aimée Sicuro. She lives in California.

AIMÉE SICURO is an award-winning illustrator who recently published her first picture book, Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami, which has been highly acclaimed.

Editorial Reviews

A lovely addition to any bedtime repertoire.

Kirkus Reviews

Feder's words are gentle and reassuring and will satisfy children who also fear the dark … A lovely addition to bedtime book collections.

Booklist

Ella’s favourite colour is yellow. It’s the colour of the sun, the source of lightness and life. When the sun goes down and darkness sets in, she starts to panic, turning on every lamp in the house and gripping her mother’s hand in fear. Yellow totally takes over Ella’s waking hours, from the wallpaper in her house to the daffodils on the kitchen table to the clothes she wears, all rendered in a thick, luminous gouache. One night, Ella’s mother introduces her to a new type of yellow: the soft, butter-yellow moon of the horizon brings with it glowing fireflies. Against the dark backdrop of the night sky, these yellows get a chance to act as the spotlight. Ella doesn’t learn to confront her fears; she learns to approach them with a new perspective. Perhaps that’s all six of one and half-dozen of the other, but by the end of the book, she decides to turn off the lamp and fall asleep in the moonlight, looking completely at peace.

The Globe and Mail

There’s no shortage of picture books on this topic, but Feder and Sicuro handle this with such care and thoughtfulness; it really stands out.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

A simply luminous and reassuring selection to share before bedtime, again and again.

School Library Journal

Praise for The Moon Inside

"A lovely addition to any bedtime repertoire." — Kirkus Reviews

"Feder's words are gentle and reassuring and will satisfy children who also fear the dark … A lovely addition to bedtime book collections." — Booklist

"A simply luminous and reassuring selection to share before bedtime, again and again." — School Library Journal

"There’s no shortage of picture books on this topic, but Feder and Sicuro handle this with such care and thoughtfulness; it really stands out." — Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Praise for books in the Daisy series by Sandra V. Feder:

“…gentle storytelling … [a] quiet charmer …” —Kirkus Reviews

“Book Two in the irresistible Daisy series … introduces children to the satisfaction of independent reading and the joy of playing with language.” — The Picnic Basket Blog

“Daisy’s irrepressible but realistic enthusiasm for life is charming and irresistible.” —School Library Journal

Praise for Bright Sky, Starry City, illustrated by Aimée Sicuro:

“Newcomer Sicuro’s mixed-media illustrations are similarly attentive to the story’s emotions.” —Publishers Weekly

“Sicuro captures the wonder of ‘how deep the night was and how endless’ through a series of circular drawings and collages . . .” —Horn Book

“Sicuro’s mixed-media illustrations, with their gauzy chalk and translucent watercolor touches, convey both the objective and emotive pleasures of stargazing.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

2016-07-02
A young girl’s fear of the dark is quieted when she explores the night with her mother in Feder (Daisy’s Big Night, 2014) and Sicuro’s (Bright Sky, Starry City, 2015) first collaboration.Every evening, Ella dreads the arrival of the dark. As the sun begins to set, she goes through her house with her mother, turning on lights to replace the sun’s yellow glow and keep the dark at bay. When Ella laments the sun’s departure and the disappearance of yellow, her favorite color, from her world, her mother coaxes her outside into the twilight and encourages her to take a look around. Ella sees the moon first, and once she really starts to look, it’s not long before she realizes that yellow hasn’t disappeared after all. Blinking fireflies and the moon itself fill the night with Ella’s favorite color, and she finds that the quietness of night is special, too. When she returns inside, Ella still turns on a few lights, but she welcomes the moon as a nighttime companion until the sun returns. Transitioning from spreads awash in warm daylight to lush and vibrant night scenes, Sicuro’s watercolors lend a quiet, emotional depth to Feder’s unhurried narrative. Ella’s race and ethnicity are not explored in either text or images, which depict her and her mother with paper-white skin and dark hair, but her discovery will appeal to any readers who have ever found themselves embracing a new part of their world. A lovely addition to any bedtime repertoire. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews