I Took the Moon for a Walk

by Carolyn Curtis, Alison Jay (Illustrator)

Lyrically written and beautifully illustrated, this memorable moonlight journey will leave all who read it marveling at the serene beauty of the world at night.

Following the magical adventure of a young boy who goes exploring with his friend, the Moon, I Took the Moon for a Walk combines lyrical verse with detailed illustrations, creating a dramatic backdrop for this imaginative journey. Readers can also discover all kinds of facts about the passage of the moon through the sky and its influence on our lives.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Space, Storytime, Poetry, Fantasy

40 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Carol]

"I carried my flashlight just in case
The moon got scared and his its face."

It is rhythmic lines like this that draws the adult into this children's picture book. Beautiful illustrations too. Delightful book to be shared with that young reader in your life.

Thank you Candace for recommending I Took the Moon for a Walk.

[Afaf Ammar]

"I took the Moon for a walk last night,
It followed behind like a still summer kite, 🪁🌕🪁
I carried my owen light just in case
the Moon got scared and hide it's face,
But it peeked through cloud
that were fragile as lace,
when I took the Moon for a walk,
Hand holding hand through the starry night sky, when I took the Moon for a walk,
we danced cross the bridge where the smooth waters flow,
The Moon was above and the Moon was below,
And bright in between them
I echoed their glow,
when I took the Moon for a walk,
Then as we turned back,the Moon kept me in sight,
It followed me home and stayed there all night,
And thanked me by sharing it's sweet sleepy light,
when I took the Moon for a walk"

A wonderful poetic picture book with warm illustrations,
Shiny and bright as the moon, sweet as the moonlight, warm as the beautiful friendship between us and the Moon, I shared with the Moon a walk, friendship, love and light in this book, I loved it so much,
A million stars and a millon hearts for the book and the Moon~ 💙💙🌌🌕🌌💙💙


كتاب مصور شعري رائع برسومات دافئة، لامع كالقمر، حلو كضوء القمر، دافئ كالصداقة الجميلة بيننا وبين القمر،
تشاركت مع القمر التمشية والصداقة والحب والضوء في هذا الكتاب ،
أحببته للغاية،
مليون نجمة ومليون قلب للكتاب وللقمر ~💙💙🌌🌕🌌💙💙

23.07.2021

[Maysaa El-Sheikh]

You can breathe the fragrance of childhood between the lines 🥰🤩✨🌈 I can’t tell you how much I related to it

[Denise Spicer]

This charming board book in the classic 32 page format has cute rhyming verse and gorgeous illustrations by Alison Jay. Cheerful and colorful with fascinating details as a boy goes for an evening stroll. The artwork is great with the paintings looking like crackled Folk Art with some Surrealism effects. The book also contains brief definitions of the mysterious moon – phases, the world at night, and some nocturnal creatures that are most active at night (even plants). Super cool.

[Relyn]

Our summer school theme is NASA and space this year. So, I am teaching fiction and non-fiction about the moon, stars, and aliens. We have lots and lots of cool plans. For example, we are designing our own life-sized aliens, having spaceship races (decorated Frisbee), writing poems about what the moon is really made of: green cheese, milk, white chocolate, a pearl... Their ideas are vast and fun. As a part of summer school, we are reading tons and tons of moon, star, and alien related books. I'll review some of them here.

First, I adore the folk art feel of this books' art. I also love the simple rhyming pattern combined with a sophisticated use of language. I plan to use this next year in my writing mini-lesson on word choice and juicy language. I mean, I REALLY love this book. There is also a great variety of layouts that will help my kids get ideas when they make books of their own. I also love the non-fiction facts tucked into the back of the book. This is a treasure!

[Angelina]

3.5 stars.

[Les Wilson]

Our second book tonight was really enjoyable. Written in verse it was a nice touch.

[Candice]

I absolutely love this book! I read it to my granddaughter today and it has all the elements I love in a children's book. From this enticing beginning: "I took the Moon for a walk last night./It followed behind like a still summer kite,/Though there wasn't a string or a tail in sight/when I took the Moon for a walk" until the end the words, the rhythm, and the colorful illustrations all come together into a lovely book for young children. Allison Jay has a unique style of painting that goes perfectly with the text of the poem.

[Kristen]

My fellow librarian, Debra, had the kids glue die-cut moons to wooden sticks and then play along taking the moon for a walk, rising higher, tiptoeing through grass, etc. as she read the story. Then she played "Catch the Moon" by Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb while she blew bubbles for the kids to catch. Lyrical text, lovely art, fun to play!

[Connie]

This is a book illustrated by Alison Jay, so that the pictures are gorgeous hardly needs to be said.

The simple rhyming text complements the pictures very nicely, thank you. This book would work very well as a bedtime book for babies as well as young preschoolers.

[Brianne]

I don't normally rate children's books, but this one deserves it. This book has beautiful illustrations and the story is very sweet. One of my favorites.

[Mavis’s Dad]

This beautifully illustrated book features all kinds of night creatures and a young boy experiencing the moon rising at night time. This begs a couple of questions. Why is he walking the moon when he could have a dog or a friend to walk with? And where are his parents? If the moon is out, that moon won’t protect him from creepers who come out at night, preying upon children. I gave a huge sigh of relief when he wound up safely in his bed.

Moral: Find joy in simple things.

Length: This book is very lyrical so you’ll want to take your time and enjoy the rhyme scheme as you read it to your littles. Still, it’s very easy to read if you are lucky and have a kid who falls asleep fast.

Favorite Line: “We danced ‘cross the bridge where the smooth waters slow. The moon was above and the moon was below.”

Overall impression: Mavis needs to know that she’s not going for a walk at night by herself anytime soon - and not because she can’t walk yet. It’s actually not as safe as this book makes it seem. But once you get past that hiccup of poor parenting, this is a stellar storybook perfect for bedtimes wherever children can still see the gorgeous night sky.

[Ozge]

Keşke son sayfadaki bilgiler hikayeye entegre edilseydi. Çizimleri beğenemedim.
Ay takvimi olduğunu ve halen kullananların olduğunu, ay büyürken tohumların ekildiğini ve fidelerin yerinin değiştirildiğini, Çin Ay Festivalinin sonbaharın ortasındaki hasat ayında gerçekleştiğini ve, Kelt ve Kızılderelilerin hasat ayı festivalini kutladıklarını öğrendim.

[Colleen]

J'aime beaucoup ce livre! Je veux lire plusieurs fois surtout parce qu'il contient beaucoup d'information sur la lune. My spell check and accents are not set for French, so I'll finish in English. This is a beautiful, charming read about the moon. I'm going to enjoy reading it over and over again.

[Sage]

I’m a nanny to a two year old and this is one of his favorite books. And truthfully it’s one of mine too. Every time we read I always make sure this one is in the pile. Between the calming words and the amazing artwork, this book is an absolute must.

[Martin]

Seriously, one of my top three kids books. Might be at the very top. I love the artwork, the way it reads, the way it makes me feel, and of course the way my daughter loves it too. :)

[Kelsey]

My child loves the moon but we found this story boring because of the text and plot.

[Susu Kam]

In my picture book era because I found an arabic version of this and I'm on an adventure to improve my reading. But it's a bilingual version so it has the original English too, and honestly for a kids book the writing was very poetic. And the drawings were pretty

[Robert Beveridge]

Carolyn Curtis, I Took the Moon for a Walk (Barefoot Books, 2004)

Full disclosure: since I wrote this review, and in part because of our reactions to Starlight Sailor and I Took the Moon for a Walk, my wife and mother-in-law have become Barefoot Books distributors.

Google Books calls the language in I Took the Moon for a Walk “lyrical”, and they're not just tossing the word around casually. I have looked high and low and found no evidence at all that the words here are based on a song, but if they're not, they're the closest to it in an original piece of pre-lit outside of Sandra Boynton I've ever seen. The rhythm is strong in this one, grasshoppa, and you will not realize how precious that is until you start inundating your household with pre-lit. So much of it (even some that IS based on songs, e.g. Animal Fair above) has rhythm that just doesn't quite work that finding a book like this is something quite special indeed. I loved this one, and Bean did too (though to be fair, he's obsessed right now with anything that mentions, or depicts, the moon); we read it at least three times a week. It doesn't get old. ****

[Rachel]

I love Alison Jay's cracked painted illustrations with all the tiny details, but had only read her alphabet book and "If Kisses Were Colors," so I thought I'd give this book a try. This was a cute rhyming bedtime book about a little boy who took the moon for a walk and it followed him home to shed light as the boy went to bed. My favorite illustration was the one about the dew on the grass that the moon called forth, as Jay makes the grass look like it is singing, and the bugs that are crawling over it. The back of the book is cool as it talks about the phases and facts about the moon, as well as nocturnal creatures such as owls, bats and fireflies. Highly recommended for ages 1-6, 5 stars.

[Tori]

This is a really neat book. I love the idea of taking the moon for a walk...it certainly feels as though the moon follows you when you are a young imaginitive mind who is wandering in the early evening. This is a great story with beautiful art and lots of information about night animals and such. Great for all ages, my 2 year old loves it, so do I.

You can buy this and other board books at http://hopegrowers.mybarefootbooks.com

[Terry]

The story is lyrical and easy to read. It's a nice combination of reality reading (seeing one's glow in the water) and fantasy (the boy and moon sharing a night-time flight) that will appeal to all readers. Keep reading ..." to see the rest of the review.

[Bethany Harnden]

The painted illustrations resemble aged works of fine art, with a crackled varnish finish. Filled with fun and curious facts, the book combines fantasy with the reality of what happens at night time. A visionary story with simple word and rhyme concepts that create a walking pace for a child to amble through reading about what happens when the moon comes out.

[Lesley Dahlseng]

There is an enchanting quality to the moon for both young and old, and what could be more magical than taking the moon for a walk? The fresh and imaginative text written in smooth rhyme lends a quality of romanticism that spans the ages, and the illustrations enrapture you with their unique beauty. It's a tough choice, but this may be my favorite children's book.

[Brooke]

I'm excited to have discovered this book for a couple of reasons. First, I like the science and literature connection. Second, I found it as a bilingual book at www.languagelizard.com. You can choose English and any of 24 (!) other languages.

[Jean]

I love this book! I love the concept of the child and the moon out walking, and the meter of the verse is so smooth and musical; the illustrations are also fun and interesting. This is one of my daughter's and my favorites. I've used this to demonstrate meter/verse in my AP Literature class, too!

[Katie Jackson]

The boy in this book takes the moon for a walk one night and sees all of the events that happen at night. The truth is the moon is everywhere we go at night so we feel like we are taking the moon for a walk. I would use this book to begin an introduction in a lesson over the moon.

[Shelley]

This is a cute book about a boy who goes for a walk with the moon. It is great for ryming and sequencing because it is set to ryme and also their are lots of places the boy and moon go that they can sequence.

[Aleisha Pendleton]

I loved this book! The illustrations were excellent and the story was really fun. I really like that in the back of the book there is more information on the moon. This would be a great book to read at the beginning of a science lesson about the moon.

[Liesl]

Sweet story, cute and imaginative illustrations. Bonus points for the pages at the end covering The Mysterious Moon and The World at Night. It's fantastic how Barefoot Books go the extra mile to foster learning by including interesting information related to the subject presented.