Meet the First Guardian of Childhood

Meet the very first Guardian of Childhood.

The Man in the Moon, by William Joyce (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1st ed., 2011), took the author/illustrator 20 years to create.  It is the inaugural story in the author's Guardians of Childhood series.  Its paintings are gloriously breathtaking in color, composition, and scope.  The story will please early readers (preschoolers, we used to call them) with its dynamic language and exotic characters and landscapes.  The book will be most appreciated, however, by grown-ups, whose childhoods MiM, the Man in the Moon, was guarding so long ago.  It is a wonderful book to read aloud or to yourself.

In our book trailer, we have tried to match the majesty of the book's illustrations with similarly grand music, and, once again, the Library's own composer has delivered a masterpiece.  It is a musical march to match MiM and his friends along their adventures.

Since the book was just published in September, 2011, some libraries may not yet have a copy.  But Evergreen Indiana (E.I.) library cardholders are in luck.  My Library has a copy, as do several others in the E.I. library consortium. Click here to place your hold on a copy. Remember that, in the E.I. catalog, you have to wait six months before getting a brand new copy from another library, but you may check out your home library's copy of a new book right now, assuming, of course, that your home library has a copy.  If not, then request that your home library buy a copy.  Why should anyone miss out on the fun?

Don't Forget to Read Aloud to Your Slobberdogs and Kitties,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Young Children's Reading News Beat

P.S.  Here is the complete composition, "The Blacksmith" (2:57), which we used as the soundtrack to our book trailer for The Man in the Moon.  The song is included on the upcoming music CD, Images of Autumn, by Daniel E. Buckley (2011).  I included images of my Library in the video, not so much because they fit the music, but because iMovie requires visual images to accompany a soundtrack (limiting each to about a minute duration), so I needed something to match the length of the composition.  Anyway, I'm bumping up against deadlines here, and I like my Library.  We have nice facilities that we proudly show off.