Review - The Girl Who Spoke to the Moon

The Girl Who Spoke to the Moon
by Land Wilson
illustrated by Sue Cornelison
Date: 2020
Publisher: Little Pickle Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

In this magically illustrated bedtime story, little Sofia befriends the Moon, takes a dreamy trip to visit her friend, and decides to protect the Earth in any way she can.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This appears to be a reissue of a book called Sofia's Dream, which came out around a decade ago. It's a decent enough story, with soft and dreamy illustrations... although the narrative does come off as a little preachy and the amount of back matter seems disproportionately large.

A little girl named Sofia makes friends with the Moon. One night, in a dream, she goes to visit the Moon. From that vantage point, she can see the Earth, and she learns about how humans have been abusing her. When she wakes up, she vows to do little things to help.

The rest of the book is taken up with notes. Only 26 pages feature the story, while the other 6 offer tips on saving the planet (most of which aren't going to do anything, and some of which--like picking up every piece of plastic litter you see--are potentially dangerous; does that include used needles?!). I realize that there's not much children can do, but this book's suggestions seem next to worthless. Advocacy and activism aren't really encouraged, and both of those are going to be needed to change what really needs to be changed; reusable shopping bags and "Meatless Mondays" can only get us so far. I also found the tone of the notes a little scary in places. Cancer is listed twice as a consequence of various types of pollution, but without enough context, this could unnecessarily frighten some children.

I sort of like the pictures. They work well enough for this sort of story. They're dreamy and soft and appealing to look at. They have a very definite "bedtime" feel to them. But they also seem to be missing something that I can't quite put my finger on. They're not bad, by any means; they simply don't excite me for some reason.

On the whole, this is a fair innocuous picture book, especially if you stay away from the back matter. Very young children will probably be satisfied with the story alone. Older kids will get more out of the stuff at the end, as long as they're also old enough to understand that not everybody is going to develop cancer from pollution.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Pickle Press for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3 out of 5