Review - The Moon Is a Silver Pond

The Moon Is a Silver Pond
by Sara Cassidy
illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
Date: 2019
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: library

A young child skates, bakes and milks the cow while the moon wondrously transforms above. The moon is a silver pond when seen through the trees. When they tend the cow, the moon is the milk at the bottom of the pail.

With stunning illustrations by Josée Bisaillon, this simple board book shows children that the way they see the world--by heart, mind and imagination--is just right. Reveling in metaphor, The Moon Is a Silver Pond encourages that magical leap of imagination and asks the reader to look at everyday objects from a different perspective.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I read The Sun Is a Peach earlier this year. The Moon Is a Silver Pond suffers from the same problems as its sequel: the metaphors are a real stretch.

I'm sorry, but I don't think of the moon when I see a tooth, a snail, or a pillow. I'm not quite sure who would. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the comparisons. It's not always shape. It's not always colour. You might as well say the moon is a phone or a diaper.

I enjoyed some of the illustrations, which are done in a mixed-media style. But since they accompany some of the most stretched metaphors I've ever seen, that dampened my enjoyment somewhat.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5