In this Caldecott Honor Book, Little Star’s mama bakes a Big Mooncake for Little Star, and places it “onto the night sky to cool.” When Mama asks Little Star not to touch until she gets permission, Little Star agrees. She washes, brushes, and goes to sleep. But, when Little Star wakes during the night, she can only think of her Big Mooncake sitting there in the sky. So…pat pat pat, she tiptoes over and takes "a tiny nibble.” The next night, Little Star remembers how “sweet and tasty” that piece of Mooncake was, and the next night, and the next night, too, until Little Star's Big Mooncake is all gone, except for “a trail of twinkling crumbs.” When her smiling mama asks if Little Star “ate the Big Mooncake again,” Little Star agrees, smiling back at Mama, and off they go to make another Big Mooncake for Little Star.
This cyclical, original fable feels timeless, yet also fresh and new. I enjoy the gentle way Little Star’s “bad” behavior is received, as if this is a joke the two have played on each other many times before. The illustrations are striking, with painterly renderings of the characters both blending in and standing out amid the star-dotted black backgrounds of the sky. Two-thirds of the way through, readers are treated to a view of all the phases of the moon which Little Star nibbles her way through, simultaneously in one gorgeous double page spread.
--Lynn
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