Bob Crelin

Among my daughter's earliest words was "Moon." She'd point it out in the sky whenever she saw it, which wasn't usually at night; it was usually in the morning or evening when we were out and about. But sometime during her second year, popular culture (or toddler culture, anyway) "taught" her that the Moon is out only at night. Failing to find a book appropriate for preschoolers that discussed the Moon's phases and the fact that it can be seen in the daytime too, I even considered writing one myself. Now I don't have to, because Bob Crelin has done it, and done it admirably, in Faces of the Moon. The book is written in verse and has beautiful, bold, block-printed illustrations by Leslie Evans that will appeal to young children, but the concepts it teaches work well for older children (and even adults). As the verse defines "new," "crescent," "quarter," "gibbous," "wax," and "Wane," cutouts in the pages cleverly show only as much of the Moon as is visible during each phase; along with tabbed page edges, the book's design helps to hold the attention of younger kids. The quality of the verse is way above the average for educational kids' books. For example: "A few days pass, and Moon's less shy;/ her smile lights the twilight sky./ The more her sunlit surface shows, the more Moon's WAXING CRESCENT grows."

This review was originally posted at planetary.org.… (mere)

I enjoyed listening to this book online. Sometimes learning the different faces of the moon can be a difficult concept for students, but I like that the author chose to write this informative text in poetry form; and it's actually kind catchy. The rhythmic pattern stays consistent throughout the book making it easier for students to follow along. The illustrations in book also go hand in hand with what is being said by the text. I think this book would work really well in 4th grade as students are learning about the moon and would be very easy to integrate into science.… (mere)

I liked this book because it has a unique rhyming pattern that stays consistent throughout the book. In addition to that, the text provides educational facts regarding the moon and its different characteristics. The illustrations tie in with the text nicely and and demonstrate what is being said on each page.

The steady A-B rhyming pattern makes the book very enjoyable and given that most of the text on the page is informational makes it that much more effective. For example, “each changing face (or lunar phase) repeats each nine and twenty days”. Phase and days rhyme and it states that every 29 days the lunar phases change. The illustrations show the moon in action. What I mean by that is it does not only show the different changes that it makes throughout time but it also shows it from a person’s point of view. For example, there is an illustration of a child going to bed looking up at the moonlight and the stars surrounding it. The book changes seasons as well because the first pictures start during winter and end in the fall right before winter starts again.

The big idea of this story is to educate readers on the different characteristics of the moon. It is an enjoyable read with some cool facts about something that we see everyday.… (mere)