The Moon Tonight: Our Moon's Journey Around Earth

by Jung Chang-hoon, Jang Ho (Illustrator)

Overview

"Exquisite." — New York Times

Follow our moon as it waxes and wanes across the night sky in this informative and stunning nonfiction picture book by an astronomer and award-winning illustrator.

Everyone on Earth can look up and marvel at our moon in the night sky. It is an experience we share across cultures and continents. As our closest celestial neighbor, the moon touches on many aspects of our lives and has inspired interest from people across centuries. 

In The Moon Tonight, you can share that same sense of wonder with your child through the eyes of a father-daughter duo as they learn the science behind the twenty-nine-day lunar cycle and the moon’s four phases: crescent, quarter, full, and new.

With age-appropriate and easy-to-follow scientific explanations by astronomer Jung Chang-hoon paired with stunningly beautiful acrylic drawings by an award-winning Bologna Book Fair Illustrator of the Year, Jang Ho, this picture book offers families a reading experience that is both poetic and educational.

A perfect STEM classroom read and bedtime story for little readers curious about where the moon goes and why! 

Printed on responsibly sourced FSC-certified paper with vegetable inks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781737603252
Publisher:	Blue Dot Kids Press
Publication date:	01/24/2023
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 8.70(h) x (d)
Lexile:	640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Selected as illustrator of the Year at the Bologna Book Fair, Jang Ho is one of South Korea's most renowned illustrators of children's picture books.

Jung Chang-hoon is an astronomer from South Korea and served as a reporter and chief editor for Science Monthly, Newton Monthly, Science for Kids Monthly, and Stars and Space Monthly.

Editorial Reviews

"Lovely and aptly luminous.” — Booklist

"Comprehensive….Beautifully illustrated and carefully explained...an attractive, helpful addition to the science shelf.” — Kirkus Reviews 

"Exquisite." — New York Times


A USBBY Outstanding International Trade Book

A Bank Street Best Book - Outstanding Merit 

From the Publisher

2022-11-29
Wonder at the changes in the moon’s appearance over the course of a month.

In this welcome title, a Korean astronomer who also writes for young readers offers a comprehensive explanation of the changing phases of the moon. In clear, relatively simple words, he begins by describing the moon’s light as a reflection from the sun. He goes on to show that the moon’s waxing, waning, and apparent disappearance depend on how much of the sunlit side of the moon can be seen from Earth. In smaller print below the main text, the author offers more detailed information about when the moon rises and sets for each phase, accompanied by illustrations. Jung then invites readers to experiment with a flashlight and a ball to see how this works. He shows how the gravity of the sun and moon affect Earth’s tides and briefly touches on lunar calendars. The text, translated from Korean by Morris, is smooth, but at one point the waxing crescent moon “rises in the early evening”—technically an incorrect statement, as moonrise refers to when the moon rises over the horizon, not when it becomes visible in the sky. The smaller print correctly states that the moon follows the sun to rise in the early morning but, hard to see in the sunlight, becomes visible only after dark. Lovely sepia night scenes, instructive thumbnail images of each phase of the moon at different times of the day and night, and helpful diagrams add to the package. An Asian-presenting adult and child can be seen throughout observing the moon.

Beautifully illustrated and carefully explained, this is an attractive, helpful addition to the science shelf. (information on the moon, photos, Korean proverb) (Informational picture book. 4-9)

Kirkus Reviews