Breaking up, surveying the options, and making up, solar system–styleMoon and Earth quarrel. So Moon, clad in sports socks and sneakers, stalks off on her extra-long legs to start fresh and meet someone new. Orbiting Venus is fun at first, but the toxic clouds are off-putting. Mercury is too fast to stop for her, and the Sun soon burns her, so she reverses course. Mars looks perfect-until Moon, disillusioned, discovers that Mars has two orbiting satellites already and declines to get involved ("This situation seems complicated"). Upon learning that Jupiter already has a bevy of moons, she decides she doesn't want to be "anybody's number ninety-six." A night of partying with Saturn leaves Moon exhausted. Uranus is too smelly, Neptune is desolate and cold, and is Pluto even a planet anymore? Suddenly Moon longs for Earth. The pastel art is exuberant and decorative; on every page, black space is filled with colorful confetti and tiny improbable spaceships, and planets have stubby appendages and odd alien life-forms. Though the solar system facts are sound, much of the humor, with its references to dating woes, won't strike a chord with children, who may even emerge with some bleak takeaways about romance. The titular pair apparently reunite only because Moon can't find anyone better, and they never address the reasons for their fight or promise to do better.An uncertain mashup of astronomical information and relationship therapy. (more information on the solar system)(Picture book. 4-7)

Gr 1–3— In Duff's comic treatment of issues of a personal and planetary nature, Moon and Earth have an argument. Readers are not told what the rift is about, but it seems permanent, and Moon becomes a petulant drifter, hopping from planet to planet, even non-planet Pluto, but giving Uranus the cold shoulder. Jupiter and Saturn already have moons, Mercury is too quick, and anyway, the closer Moon gets to the sun, the hotter her surface. She's the only one with pronouns, and comes with opinions, disdaining the post of 81st moon for Jupiter, but joining the dance party over at Saturn. The call of home is too much for this prodigal pouter, who quickly apologizes as Earth is apologizing to her, and her cycle is restored. Vola envisions Moon as a long-legged orb with a backpack, and depicts the local universe in the festive, drenched colors of a pi&1;ata; the whole journey has a Mardi Gras vibe. Behind the party, though, are solid facts about the planets, painlessly woven in, while back matter clarifies the material further. VERDICT This is a joyful but meaty take on the celestial beings that surround Earth. It delivers solid SEL as well: in an argument between good friends, sometimes all that's needed is a little perspective.— Kimberly Olson Fakih