Moon's First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship

by Susanna Leonard Hill, Elisa Paganelli (Illustrator)

Overview

A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller! Delight in this heartwarming picture book about a moon who just wants a friend... the perfect Christmas gift!

Commemorate the extraordinary 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and learn about the spaceflight that first landed humans on the moon through this sweet story about friendship! From high up in the sky, the Moon has spent her whole life watching Earth and hoping for someone to visit. Dinosaurs roam, pyramids are built, and boats are made, but still no one comes. The Moon can't help but wonder…will friends ever come visit her? Until one day a spaceship soars from Earth...and so does her heart. Filled with beautiful illustrations and charming text, this moon book for kids ages 4-7 and bedtime read aloud is a must-have for parents and teachers alike searching for new solar system books and astronaut books for toddlers and children.

Why readers love Moon's First Friends:

• An educational and heartwarming story about the first moon landing told from the unique perspective of the Moon herself!
• Makes a fantastic back to school book, holiday stocking stuffer, or gift for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, or any occasion!
• Educational bonus content in the back includes out-of-this world facts about the moon, space flight, and the individuals who made the mission possible
• A scannable QR code allows readers to listen to the exciting countdown to Apollo 11's liftoff and touch down

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492656807
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	400,451
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Susanna Leonard Hill is the New York Times bestselling author of Moon’s First Friends, as well as many other award-winning books for children. She does frequent school and library visits, teaches picture book writing, and offers picture book critiques. She lives in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley with her children and two rescue dogs.

Elisa Paganelli attended the Art Institute in Modena and the illustration course at IED European Institute of Design in Turin, Italy, and has worked as a creative designer since she was a young student. Over the years, she has run a design shop and studio, received awards as a young female entrepreneur, and today works as an illustrator full time from her office accompanied by her dogs and cats.

Editorial Reviews

Susanna Leonard Hill's Moon's First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship sparks lunar interest with an age-old approach: Put a face on it. Forget the Man in the Moon (or the rabbit). This cheerful title introduces a rosy-cheeked, eye-lashed "Queen of the Night Sky"…Elisa Paganelli's textured digital artwork extends the winsome story with a cozy version of space…

The New York Times Book Review - Gillian Engberg

04/08/2019

Hill imagines the Apollo 11 moon landing from the perspective of the moon itself. In Paganelli’s friendly illustrations, the moon is an anthropomorphic, bright-eyed blue sphere with rosy cheeks who communicates with the changing world throughout history. Despite how she tries to make friends, from saber-toothed tigers to early air balloonists, all of Earth’s denizens remain planet-bound. Not even an early airplane can reach her, and “a chimpanzee in a Mercury capsule... returned to Earth without reaching her.” At last, the moon meets the astronauts of Apollo 11: “The astronauts walked across her surface with great bounding steps that made her dust bloom.” Hill concludes this light moon-landing story with back matter, including photographs, a timeline of the Earth’s eras, and details about the Apollo 11 mission. Ages 4–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"This cheerful title introduces a rosy-cheeked, eye-lashed ‘Queen of the Night Sky,’ lonely after 4.5 billion years of silvery bright solitude. Elisa Paganelli’s textured digital artwork extends the winsome story with a cozy version of space, a soothing, star-speckled blue rather than bottomless black, and watched over by the eager, anthropomorphized "queen," who cheers as the Eagle lands right between her eyes." — The New York Times

"This is a story for young readers. It anthropomorphizes the moon, making her a character in the tale of the lunar landing. It's remarkably sweet, and kids ages 2 to 5 will love it." — Romper

"Set apart by its unusual point of view... Appended notes on the moon, NASA, spacesuits, and the Saturn V rocket also help to give the historic mission some background." — Kirkus Reviews

"In this playful book, the anthropomorphized moon watches humans from afar and eagerly notes as they invent the first airplane, build rockets and prepare to take the first tentative steps on her surface. Through text and informative back matter, young readers learn fascinating facts about the moon, astronauts and the space program." — Washington Parent

"For the littlest sky-watcher "The Moon’s First Friends" by Susanna Leonard Hill, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, gives the orb a certain friendliness. Through the centuries, as this tale goes, the moon observed everything that happened on Earth, occasionally razzle-dazzling humans until finally, she had visitors! This is a cute story and, for curious 3-to-5-year-olds, there’s a nice afterword you can read, too." — Bookworm Sez

"A cute story [that] manages to deliver some facts (including how solar eclipses work!) seamlessly within the narrative." — Panetary.org

"In Paganelli’s friendly illustrations, the moon is an anthropomorphic, bright-eyed blue sphere with rosy cheeks who communicates with the changing world throughout history." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

05/01/2019

K-Gr 2—The Moon gets anthropomorphized in this celebration of the lunar landing. The Moon is the queen of the night sky, but she gets lonely and wishes for a friend. Finally, two astronauts visit, and the Moon gifts them with rocks and dust while they leave her a "handsome plaque" and a "beautiful flag." Too soon they have to leave, but the Moon is left with the hope that she'll host visitors again. This book could be used to introduce the Moon landing to very young audiences, but in its quest for simplicity, a lot of useful information is excluded. The Moon tries to get humanity's attention by traveling in front of the Sun, leaving her shadow on Earth, but the concept of eclipses isn't touched on even in the endnotes. The Moon gets excited when a chimpanzee travels in space in a "United States" branded Mercury capsule, and the American flag is prominently planted on its surface right before the astronauts leave, but there is no mention of the space race or any of the Soviet Union's accomplishments. The five pages of endnotes do offer some more comprehensive information on the Moon and details on the Apollo 11 voyage. VERDICT An additional purchase for large collections.—Kacy Helwick, New Orleans Public Library

School Library Journal

2019-02-06

The Moon, lonely for so long, welcomes at last a pair of visitors from the planet below.

It's a long wait—dinosaurs come and go, and likewise woolly mammoths; the pyramids rise; the first balloons and gliders appear; a chimp in a Mercury capsule waves from orbit—but at long last two spacecraft stacked atop a huge multistage rocket make the journey: "They're actually coming!" The Moon, a light blue orb in Paganelli's pastel-toned scenes with big, lashed eyes and pink cheeks, watches in delight, warmly welcomes the two astronauts who land, and gives them gifts of rocks and dust (they in turn leave a plaque and a brightly colored flag) when it's time to go. "Come back anytime!" Hill neglects mention of the earlier and later Apollo visits but enhances her lunarcentric commemoration of Apollo 11 with a detailed if idiosyncratic account of that one and QR codes leading to actual sound clips of the countdown and Neil Armstrong's first remark. Appended notes on the moon, NASA, spacesuits, and the Saturn V rocket also help to give the historic mission some background.

One of a flurry of semicentennial tributes, set at least a bit apart by its unusual point of view. (Informational picture book. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews