I See the Moon

by Kathi Appelt, Debra Reid Jenkins (Illustrator)

A little girl dreams that she's all alone at sea in a tiny boat. It's dark, and the sea is scary. Then she sees the gentle moon, the first sign of God's love. The moon, the stars, and at last the sun lend enough light to lead her back to shore, where she realizes she was never alone at all. God has brought her safely home.

Based on a traditional children's rhyme, Kathy Appelt's poetic text and Debra Reid Jenkins' imaginative and dramatic paintings, accented in gold leaf, convey a sense of mystery and wonder and make this book a perfect illustration of God's abiding love.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

24 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 1997

About the author

Lives in College Station, TX with husband Ken and four adorable cats.

Two sons, both musicians.

Serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program.

Reviews

[Jamey Fischer]

Summary: This picture book is about a girl in a ship on the sea. It is a pretty short book and easy read. Through out the book the girl asks questions about who has done all these things that she notices from her boat. In the end it ties in that God is the one who did all those things and brought her safe back to shore in her boat.

Opinion: The illustrations really drew me into this book at first. It has deep blues for the water and yellow and golds for contrast of the sun, moon, and stars. And the girl is illustrated in warm oranges and browns. I really like the story that this tells children reading the book, that God is in everything and with you through everything.

How I would use it: I could use this book in therapy for working on "WH" questions because it asks a "who?" question on every other page. However, I could probably only use it in a private or Christian setting because it talks about God in it. So in a Sunday School would also be a good place to teach with this book. Then you could do a fun craft with a sail boat or the moon or stars.

[Christine]

Gorgeous illustrations!

[Addie]

3 year old picked this out at the library and we really enjoyed it

[Emma Apple]

I’ve heard of this book before but had never actually picked it up. It’s for kids smaller than mine, but that doesn’t matter because I get these books for my own enjoyment (the kids and husband enjoy listening to me read them though). It’s a little story, more of a poem really, about being uncertain, coming through a storm and ending up safe on a beach. It’s a metaphor for trust in God and ends up bringing it all together by affirming God’s protection and love. Obviously a Christian book, but worded in such a way that any family of faith can read it and relate it to their own faith. Very sweet.

[Brandi S]

My professor read this to us in class. I really enjoyed this single illustrated poem, so I decided to get it myself. To be honest, the primary reason that I got this book is because it illustrates God's love. For this reason, I think it would be a great way to always have God in my classroom and to teach children about His grace, without breaking any "public school rules."

[Gloria]

I really liked the illustrations in this book. This book contained some rhyming but it might not be a book for every class. It does mention "God" a few times and we all know that that could be a heated topic. I could see a parent reading their child this book as they lay to go to sleep.

[Karen]

For the most part, the artwork in this book is incredibly lush and gorgeous. There are some pages I would love to frame as prints. But then there are the faces. The faces, for some reason to me, seem to be kind of creepy -- something about them doesn't quite ring true.

[Kate Hastings]

A young child realizes God is always near

[Shelli]

The illustrations are wonderful. I am not religious though and would not have picked this book up at the library if I knew it was going to be a book about "God's" love.