School Library Journal Starred Review

K-Gr 3-Curtis's charming rhyme begins, "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." The child's journey continues over a bridge, past a sharp steeple that nearly snags the moon, through a pack of howling dogs, and across the dewy grass. Throughout, the language is fresh and visual: "rust-bellied robins," "neighborhood dogs made a train-whistle choir," "clouds that were fragile as lace." The book ends with two pages of facts about the phases of the moon and some of the animals and plants included in the story. The folk-art-inspired illustrations are a perfect complement to the gentle fantasy. Using oil painted on paper with a crackling varnish, Jay creates a moving, panoramic country landscape in which the pictures tell many stories that children will love to discover-the skinny-legged moon loses a slipper; the neighborhood dogs run out for an evening romp; a gentleman pedals by on a bike, enjoying the still evening. This is a quaint and quiet book worth sharing.-Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

ALA Booklist

As the sun sets and everyone heads indoors, a young boy takes the moon on a stroll around his neighborhood. Curtis' rhyming text is rich with descriptive language and images: We tiptoed through grass where the nightcrawlers creep / when the rust-bellied robins have all gone to sleep, / And the Moon called the dew so the grass seemed to weep / When I took the Moon for a walk. Jay's surreal, Salvador Dali-like illustrations not only greatly enhance the dreamlike quality of the text but also provide visual images for some of the unfamiliar words and unusual phrasings. The textured cracked-eggshell appearance of the pictures, achieved by applying a crackling varnish over alkyd oil paint, gives the book an aged, fragile look. An ending double-page spread has information about the phases of the moon and nocturnal animals, so kids will know what to look for on their own nighttime adventures.

Horn Book

A child goes for a nighttime ramble with the moon lighting his way and imagines that he is taking it for a walk. Flawless meter and vivid, kid-friendly imagery mark this superb bedtime poem. Jay's signature crackle-painting illustrations present a whimsical moon, with arms and legs (even shoes); the pictures sometimes embellish, sometimes make more concrete, the lyrical poetry.

Kirkus Reviews

This lyrical story follows an unnamed little boy as he befriends the full moon and walks with it on a summer night. The rhyming text is told in first person, with the repetitive, soothing refrain of the words from the title effectively echoing throughout. The huge, man-in-the-moon character comes down to earth to interact with the boy, and the child later grabs the moon's hand to fly along in one spread. The illustrations employ some sophisticated perspectives, such as one page showing the moon and its reflection in a river, followed by an illustration of the boy and his reflection sandwiched between the moon and its reflection in a closer perspective. Jay's surrealistic oil paintings in muted jewel tones on ivory backgrounds are created by using a crackling varnish, which lends her illustrations an air of antique art. Two pages of additional material about the moon and the world at night are included. (Picture book. 3-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Children who've noticed the moon magically "following" them everywhere will appreciate newcomer Curtis's poem about a boy's imaginative outing. Jay (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Picture This...) characterizes the moon as a bluish gent with stringy limbs, a thin, blue-lipped smile and wise eyes, who follows behind the boy. "I warned the Moon to rise a bit higher/ so it wouldn't get hooked on a church's tall spire,/ While the neighborhood dogs made a train-whistle choir/ when I took the Moon for a walk." (Each verse ends dependably with the same eight words.) Jay's trademark oil paintings with their crackled finish reveal charming details not mentioned in the verse: the moon loses one of its red slippers on the church steeple, for instance, and the boy recovers it in the next spread. The artist successfully marries the cool royal blue of the evening sky with the warm orange-reds of the buildings, many of which seem alive (two arched windows and a clock on the church tower form a face), alongside trees that appear to dance on curvy trunks. Boy and moon eventually link arms and accompany each other to their respective realms: the moon descends to skip across a bridge with the boy; boy and moon sail over a playground, and readers are treated to a bird's-eye–view of a fanciful landscape. Endnotes for this soothing lunar lullaby contain facts about the moon's phases and nocturnal animals. Ages 4-8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)