Moon Pops

Product Information

The art style feels like a stop-motion collage with dioramas for the background and miniature objects and black and white illustrations for the animal characters. The moon is melting, but Granny saves the day in this picture book originally published in South Korea and translated into English by Jieun Kiaer. With a background in film animation, her unique visual style features handmade miniature figurines and environments painstakingly lighted and photographed. It's a Korean folktale, but I don;t think it can be too old as freezers, air conditioning haven'[t been around too long. Descriptive onomatopoeia (“whir-whir” and “hum-hum”) capture the animals’ attempts to cool off by firing up their air conditioners, turning on fans and opening refrigerator doors.

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum is very interesting story about three generations of Palestinian women, the younger ones now living in modern day Brooklyn, NY. Again, publisher description says: “illustrated in otherworldly mixed-media” and it is otherworldly for certain. Alterations is like the century egg Kevin eats: On the outside, it looks like a story about middle school drama, but once you bite in, you realize the family dynamics are the umami flavor you can’t ignore.Moon Pops”, written and illustrated by Heena Baek, and translated from Korean by Jieun Kiaer, is a modern spin off of the old Korean folktale of the Moon Rabbit. I love that there are main stream books available for children that teach them about folklore from other cultures. Granny’s solution for getting the rabbits back to their home on the moon also involves shimmering lights and wondrous, sparkling orbs that shine against the cloudy, starless night sky. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. On a very hot summer evening, when nothing seems to work to keep a group of neighbors cool, the moon starts melting.

At first unsure what to do with the drops, she is soon inspired to turn them into popsicles—moon pops! Baek’s use of onomatopoeia makes for a fun read-aloud for young readers, and her mixed media and collage illustrations result in a unique style that further captures the attention. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. That’s when the two moon rabbits showed up and Granny had to figure out how to rebuild their moon home using the last drops of the moon. The intelligence of Granny and her willingness to share and help make for an unusual folktale of community both nearby and far.It’s wonderful to walk down the Lower Elementary hallway and see the brightly colored art the students did in response to their summer book, Moon Pops by Heena Baek. Translated from Korean with exceptional, detailed 3D collage illustrations, this is a reimagining of the East Asian tale of the rabbit in the moon.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. This would make a great classroom read for young elementary school children learning about folklore from around the world. The story of a hot night, a melting moon, and an ingenious way to cool down, it’s the perfect summer story. I thought it was interesting that the story glossed over the fact that this is a folktale to explain the cycles of the moon, and I would love to discover why Baek made that choice.

Trying in vain to get to sleep, the residents of a cramped apartment building turn on their air conditioners and fans, and leave their fridges open, causing a power outage! The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read. Vanessa, an LE teacher, is reading The Wisdom Wheel by Alberto Villolda and re-reading Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain.

All is finally quiet, until two rabbits come knocking at the door—they have come from the moon, which has melted away. I loved Doerr’s earlier novel, All the Light We Cannot See, but had not gravitated to this one – until now. The artist uses real figurines and perfect lighting to capture the most pleasant way to portray this story. My only quibble, was if the moon melted (and was thus liquid), but all the power went out, how did granny manage to freeze the moon pops?This book came to my attention because it was an honor recipient of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award.