MOON! EARTH’S BEST FRIEND (OUR UNIVERSE), by Stacy McAnulty and Stevie Lewis, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), June 11, 2019, Hardcover, $17.99 (ages 4-8)
Moon! Earth’s Best Friend is the third book in Stacy McAnulty’s Our Universe series. And, as with the first two books — Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years and Sun! One in a Billion — it’s a delight.
As with previous books in this series, Moon! Is told from the moon’s perspective.
Moon is not just any hunk of rock, and she’ll be the first one to tell you. She’s Earth’s big hunk of rock — her best friend’s satellite. And as Earth’s satellite, Moon has some pretty important jobs like regulating ocean tides and using her gravity to keep Earth from getting too wobbly.
Because Moon! Earth’s Best Friend is an “autobiography,” readers get to know Moon’s unique personality. Coincidentally, Moon’s sense of humor does remind me a little bit of Luna on PBS Kids’ Let’s Go Luna!, but that could also be because of subject matter. Either way, we love them both at our house.
In fact, when Moon! Earth’s Best Friend arrived, I had to take it away from my excited 5-year-old who wanted to immediately add it to her collection. My daughter loves space, and has two separate solar systems hanging from her ceiling, so all the Our Universe books are well-loved.
The love affair comes, in part, from the simple and accessible information that answers a lot of basic questions and is easy for young readers to absorb. Stacy’s autobiographical approach makes the subject matter interesting and funny at the same time. And Stevie Lewis’ illustrations really bring Stacy’s “characters” to life.
When I interviewed Stacy last October, she said there’s at least one more book, Ocean, planned. Here’s hoping there will be even more after that.
