Rachael ColeReseñas

City Moon by Rachael Cole & Blanca Gomez. “This book follows a curious little boy and his mother as they go on a nighttime stroll through their neighborhood looking for the moon. The moon plays hide-and-seek behind buildings and peekaboo behind clouds. It’s fun to have toddlers and preschoolers attempt to spot the moon on each page! This is a great book that encourages visual literacy.”

OMG. This book is going to be my next book that I purchase. I absolutely loved it and I do not have children of my own yet. This book reminded me of "I'll Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch....but I like it infinitely better.

It is the story of a momma reading to her baby and all of the developmental milestones that come along the way. Mother and child love to be together and Mom uses every opportunity to talk and read and frankly, use every single early literacy practice that there is (remember, they are singing, talking, reading, writing, and playing)

This book I would also give to my mom as a tribute. She taught me to read; she had this mentality and I carry it with me even now. Seriously. Read this book y'all

Magical.

Mousie is too young to read the words of the book before bedtime, so mama mouse says “I Will Read to You”. The book follows little mouse from an infant, to a toddler, elementary school and beyond. The photographs follow along as well as mousie has a baby and is reading the same story about an acorn that drops to the ground in the fall. This is a poignant story about a little mouse growing up and learning to read along the way to becoming an adult mouse. I would recommend this for any collection. The illustrations are very heartfelt and it would make a great read aloud and a one on one story.

This book follows a young child going for a nighttime walk with their mother. Together, they search for the moon, and the child asks their mom some questions. The child asks about the stars (they think the stars a little moons), the moon (they think there are multiple moons), and the puddles of water on the street (they think that there's a moon in the water). Each time, the child's mom calmly answers the question, and they continue walking. The book gave me a very warm feeling, as it's a very calming book with cool colors and simple words. It's obviously the type of book you would read to a young child before bed, and I understand why, since it's so relaxing. The illustrations also show all the different types of people living in the city that the child and mother are walking through, and how different everyone's nighttime routines can be. I really enjoyed this book, though it was pretty simple (though I think that's a good thing). I could imagine reading this before bed and falling asleep, and I honestly think that's what the author and illustrator were going for.

Inspired by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends that parents and caregivers read to their children every day, in order to build language, literacy and social skills, author Rachael Cole spins this sweet tale of a mama mouse who reads to her baby. Every day, from the time the mouseling is a newborn, she reads to and with him, eventually witnessing his emergence as an independent reader. One day, when he has grown up, he begins to read to his own baby...

Mousie, I Will Read to You is only the second picture-book from Cole, who made her debut with the lovely City Moon, but it is an engaging title all the same. A celebration of the bond between parent and child, and how that bond is strengthened and shaped by reading together, it will undoubtedly find a warm reception with young bibliophiles and their parents. The accompanying artwork by illustrator Melissa Crowton is appealing, capturing the murine charm of the characters quite nicely. A letter from Pamela High, a fellow at the American Academy of Pediatrics, is included at the rear, and extols the many virtues of reading with children.

City Moon is a short simple story about a mother and a little boy who takes a walk at night in search of the moon. The little boys learn a few facts as he observes different things doing his walk with his mother. He notices that at first, he doesn't even see the moon. Then he notices "glittery dots in the sky" and his mother tells him they are called stars. He sees the moon reflection and leans the word reflection from his mother. Right before arriving back home he asks his mother why isn't everyone stopping to watch the moon. He mother tells him that the people are busy. Tuck into bed his mother leaves the curtains open so he can watch the moon as he falls asleep. The illustrations depict a busy city life. This book is a great bedtime storybook for little children.

City Moon is a really sweet book because I could see a parent reading this to their child and then having this ritual of searching for the moon become incorporated into a bedtime ritual. I like seeing a book set within the city pull out the parts of nature that can be appreciated. The child at one point asks his mother why other people are not also looking for the moon which sets also sets a nice example to assist others in appreciating the smaller things in life. The illustrations are very modern style and blocky. It looks like these images are computer generated and they are so incredibly detailed! The text here is simple to let the reader fall into the images and discover their own details. The detail is everything from people performing their own nighttime rituals in windows that the mother and child see from the street to bumper stickers places on trashcans as graffiti. Beautiful. I also checked out the illustrators website and her work is so consistent. She has that specific, modern style that she sticks to and makes beautiful pieces.

In the fall, when it gets dark early, a little boy and his Mom go for a walk to look at the moon. It isn’t easy to find, it hides behind the buildings and the clouds. The book introduces concepts such as reflections, stars, there’s only one moon, and what other people are doing. A sweet, quiet read-aloud with pretty pictures for any city child to love and hear over and over again.

Notes from the Horn Book

Love this as a bedtime book. The little kid and his mother take a walk through their neighborhood after dark to look for the moon. Gentle and sweet without being at all cloying. The moon is absent on some pages, partially hidden on others, and in full view on a couple. Really lovely.½

A young boy and his mother go on a nighttime walk to see the moon in this sweet picture-book from American author Rachael Cole and Spanish illustrator Blanca Gómez. As they walk through their neighborhood, they see the moon in many guises - shining brightly, obscured by a cloud, reflected in a street puddle - before eventually returning home. That night, when the mother tucks her son into bed, he asks that the curtains be left open, to let the light of the moon in...

City Moon, which is apparently the author's children's book debut, is a lovely little tome, one which pairs a quiet, contemplative text with colorful, collage-looking digital artwork. Although the "going to bed" part of the story is confined to the ending, I think this would make an excellent going to bed book, with its gentle series of observations and mother-son exchanges. Recommended to anyone looking for new bedtime stories, or picture-books focusing on the moon.

In this simple tale of a parent and child taking a night time walk in New York City to see the moon, young children will see just that. They may or may not resonate with the protagonist who doesn't quite get that when the moon is hidden behind a building or a tree and reappears, it's the same moon. Older readers will see that the author is showing how child development works -- perhaps it's the pre-operational stage, where a kid is understanding permanence. Perfect book for a human development class as well as a sweet bedtime story for children. I couldn't help but notice the chubby mom. It's nice to see characters all shapes and sizes in the world. I also couldn't help but notice a small detail in the illustrations - a pregnant woman, and she was black. With maybe 25 characters in the background of the cityscape, maybe only a handful of people of color, isn't this playing negatively into a stereotype? I wonder if this will be noticed by reviewers.½