How the Moon Regained Her Shape Janet Ruth Heller Sylvan Dell ISBN: 0976494345 Fiction, Children Reviewed by Joel A. Nichols

This children’s book is a tender telling of a myth that explains why the moon changes shape throughout the month, set with Native American Indians in rich illustrations of the American southwest. The story is sensitive and thoughtful, and I appreciated its focus on women: not only the personification of the moon as a woman, but also the way that women are integral to the arc of the story. After the sun has scared the moon into believing that people don’t need her, the moon seeks help from an independent woman.

Helpful men play roles, as well, but the final scenes of the story are of women dancing in a ring, celebrating the moon and her importance to their lives. This myth was engaging to my two toddler nephews, who demanded several reads in a row; they also delighted in the colorful pictures of an animated, angry sun, the helpful comet and the many superb details of desert rocks and plants. I appreciated the science section at the back of the book, which details the astronomical explanation of the phases of the moon, but I don’t think that children old enough to understand the science would be as interested in the story as younger readers.

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