A Big Mooncake for Little Star

by Grace Lin

Overview

A Caldecott Honor Book!

A gorgeous picture book that tells a whimsical origin story of the phases of the moon, from award-winning, bestselling author-illustrator Grace Lin

Pat, pat, pat...


Little Star's soft feet tiptoed to the Big Mooncake.


Little Star loves the delicious Mooncake that she bakes with her mama. But she's not supposed to eat any yet! What happens when she can't resist a nibble?

In this stunning picture book that shines as bright as the stars in the sky, Newbery Honor author Grace Lin creates a heartwarming original story that explains phases of the moon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316404488
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	30,784
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Grace Lin is the award-winning and bestselling author and illustrator of When the Sea Turned to Silver, Starry River of the Sky, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, The Year of the Dog, The Year of the Rat, Dumpling Days, and Ling & Ting, as well as picture books such as The Ugly Vegetables and Dim Sum for Everyone! Grace is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and lives in Massachusetts. Her website is gracelin.com.

Editorial Reviews

The rich darkness of the book's pages is cut by the glorious gold of the stars and the child's bright smile as she munches down a full mooncake every month…Lin takes what's large and perhaps overwhelming—planetary motions—and translates the scientific into story. Our child protagonist has a hand in the mechanism of the universe. If that's not empowering, if that's not fear-busting, I don't know what is.

The New York Times Book Review - Samantha Hunt

★ 06/11/2018
Nighttime paintings by Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) add magic to this fable about why the moon waxes and wanes. The story’s events unfold against the velvety black of the night sky as Mama and Little Star, dressed in black pajamas spangled with yellow stars, work on their mooncake (an Asian holiday treat, Lin explains in an author’s note) in the kitchen. Mama takes the cake out of the oven and lays it “onto the night sky to cool.” She tells Little Star not to touch it, and Little Star attends but awakens in the middle of the night and remembers the cake. A double-page spread shows Little Star’s speculative glance on the left and the huge golden mooncake—or is it the round, golden full moon?—on the right. Whichever it is, Little Star takes a nibble from the edge, another the next night, and so on until the moon wanes to a delicate crescent. Lin successfully combines three distinctive and memorable elements: a fable that avoids seeming contrived, a vision of a mother and child living in cozy harmony, and a night kitchen of Sendakian proportions. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for A Big Mooncake for Little Star:

Horn Book Fanfare 2018 Selection
A Chicago Public Library Best Book 0f 2018
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2018
A Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Book of 2018
A Boston Globe Best Book of 2018
A 2018 Nerdies List Book
An ALA 2019 Children's Notables List Pick

* "Luminous....Lin's storytelling is both clever and radiant. A warm and glowing modern myth."

—Kirkus, starred review

"The gouache illustrations are excellent....Intriguing characters come alive."—Booklist

Lin successfully combines three distinctive and memorable elements: a fable that avoids seeming contrived, a vision of a mother and child living in cozy harmony, and a night kitchen of sendakian proportions.

— Publishers Weekly

* This folkloric pourquoi tale effectively blends peaceful bedtime rhymes with the lure of irresistible snacking temptation—BCCB, starred review

* The relationship between Little Star and her mother offers a message of empowerment and reassurance. Lin's loving homage to the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is sure to become a bedtime favorite.—School Library Journal, starred review

"Lin's vibrant gouache paintings are a stellar fit for this story...this is a gentle, beautiful book for all."—BookPage

"In this bedtime read that sounds like a lullaby, a child longs to eat a mooncake she baked with her mom. Each night she secretly takes a bite, bringing about a new phase of the moon."—Parents Magazine

Praise for Dim Sum for Everyone!
"Like the pleasures of dim sum, this is a compact treat."— Booklist

"A delightful read-aloud"— Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The Ugly Vegetables:
"A lovely, well-formatted book with an enjoyable multicultural story. —School Library Journal

"A charming, childlike quality infuses the artwork; boldly hued gouache pictures feature skies and lawns as patterned as the girl's kitchen wallpaper and curtains."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for When the Sea Turned to Silver:

A New York Times Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Children's Book of the Year
A National Book Award Finalist
An IndieBound Bestseller
NPR Best Book of the Year Pick
PEOPLE Top 12 Children's Book of the Year
The Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of the Year Choice
An ALA Notable Book for Children
An Amazon Best Books of the Year Pick
A CCBC Children's Choices Pick
A School Library Journal Best Middle Grade of the Year Choice
A Booklist Editor's Choice
A B&N Kids Blog 10 Notable Middle Grade Novel
KPBS (San Diego NPR affiliate) Top 12 Kid's Books of the Year
A Horn Book Book Summer Reading Choice
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year

From the Publisher

★ 07/01/2018
PreS-Gr 1—Little Star's mother admonishes her not to eat the giant mooncake, which she left cooling in the night sky, but Little Star has her own ideas. Little Star makes a mischievous choice. "Yum!" Each night, she wakes from her bed in the sky and nibbles from the giant mooncake. "'Little Star!' her mama said, shaking her head even though her mouth was curving. 'You ate the big mooncake again, didn't you?' " Rather than scolding, Mama responds with a kind offer to bake a new mooncake. Observant eyes will recognize that the final pages showing Little Star and her mama baking a new mooncake are a repeat of the front papers—a purposeful hint that the ritual is repeated monthly as Little Star causes the phases of the moon. Artwork is gouache on watercolor paper. Each page has a glossy black background and small white font. Little Star and her mother have gentle countenances twinkling with merriment. Both wear star-studded black pajamas that are distinguishable from the inky sky only by their yellow stars and the occasional patch of Little Star's exposed tummy. The cherubic Little Star floats through the darkness, her mooncake crumbs leaving a trail of stardust in the sky. VERDICT The relationship between Little Star and her mother offers a message of empowerment and reassurance. Lin's loving homage to the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is sure to become a bedtime favorite.—Lisa Taylor, Florida State College, Jacksonville

School Library Journal

★ 2018-04-25
Little Star has trouble resisting the Big Mooncake that Mama has hung in the sky in Lin's (When the Sea Turned Silver, 2016, etc.) luminous departure from her usual block-print style.After Little Star and her mama, both wearing jet-black pajamas adorned with bright yellow stars, bake a huge yellow mooncake, Mama reminds Little Star to leave it in the sky to cool. Of course Little Star tries, but she wakes in the night, unable to resist taking a tiny nibble. Mama surely won't notice. Each subsequent night, Little Star steals another bite, and soon observant readers may realize what is happening: The Big Mooncake is waning from a full moon to a new moon. Lin's storytelling is both clever and radiant. Painted in gouache against perfectly black pages, the characters' pajamas have no edges, only the stars defining the separation between foreground and background. The mooncake gleams against the black as well, crumbs scattering like stars in the sky—a visual delight, suffusing the book with a feeling of otherworldliness that is offset by Little Star's childlike authenticity and her loving relationship with Mama. An author's note on the jacket flap indicates that while this story is not rooted in Chinese cosmology, it is Lin's homage to the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, her "favorite Asian holiday."A warm and glowing modern myth. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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