Many Moons

Written by James Thurber

Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin

Harcourt Inc., 1971

Genre: Children's picture book; fiction

Reading Level: ages 4-8

48 pages

Many Moons is a children's picture book about a sick princess named Lenore and her want of the moon. It starts off with Princess Lenore becoming ill because she eats too many raspberry tarts, the royal physician determines that she is very sick and sends for the King to visit his daughter. When the King asks his daughter what she desires she tells him that she desires the moon and if she gets it she will once again be well. The King wanting his daughter to get well says that she will get the moon if she wants it. So he calls on the Lord High Chamberlain and tells him that he wants the moon for his ill daughter. The Lord High Chamberlain recognizing the impossibility of this request lists out all the things he has done for the King, how far he has gone to get random things for the King, and how it would be simply impossible for him to get the moon for it is too big and too far away. The King gets very angry and sends the Lord High Chamberlain away and calls for the Royal Wizard. He asks the Royal Wizard to get his daughter the moon. The Royal Wizard also realizes this task as impossible and also makes a list of the magic he's done for the King and how the moon is too far away and too big, thus too hard to get for the princess. Once again the King is furious and sends him away and asks for the Royal Mathematician and the whole thing is repeated again. After the Royal mathematician is sent away and lastly the Court Jester is called. The King complains to him about how his wisest men said they couldn't get his ill daughter the moon. The court jester gives the advice to the King and says that he should ask the Princess how far away she thinks the moon is and how big it is. So they ask her, and she says that it's smaller than her thumbnail and that it is pretty close for it gets caught in the tree branches outside her window. The Court Jester tells her that in that case it will be easy to get it for her, he just needs to climb the tree. The next day he brings her a little piece of gold a little smaller than her thumbnail and the Princess is well again. However, the King is once again worried that at night the princess will see the moon and know the piece of gold is not really the moon. He asks his wise men again for there ideas, all of which he disagrees with, and finally turns again to the court jester who says they should ask the princess to explain how she can have the moon on her neck and yet it is still in the sky. She explained that just how she loses a tooth and it grows back as does the moon, finally the princess falls asleep and the Court Jester tucks her in; and he winks at the moon, and it winks back.

I would recommend this to any child who has his/her own understanding of the world's happenings and a imaginative mind.

I feel the only conflict that could come from this book would be parents worried about their children taking the whole idea of the moon being close and small as real.

I personally didn't really like this book, i felt it was too repetitive when it came to the wise men's actions. It was pages and pages of the same things. I felt the idea and moral of it was good and unique but not very well executed. The pictures while i felt were unique really didn't draw my attention that much, but i'm not really sure if children would like it or not.

My rating: 1 out of 5