Happy Wednesday! We are continuing with our theme of the moon this week. The moon is frequently found as a theme in literature. From Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “The Moon” to the children’s story “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown to my own Full Moon Mysteries, which have been so much fun to bring to life. So Wickeds, today my questions is, do you have a favorite moon-themed story or book?
Jessie: I love Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney which I used to read to my children. It is a story in which a little nut-brown hare tells a big nut-brown hare how much he loves him by describing a distance away. The older hare responds with a claim of love at an even greater distance. They go back and forth mentioning more and more love until night descends and Little Hare becomes sleepy and tells Big Hare that he loves him to the moon. He thinks he has made the ultimate declaration of love to his father when Big Hare admits that is very, very far. Just after Little Hare falls asleep, Big Hare whispers that he loves him to the moon, and back.
Barb: Jessie, you have reminded me of Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle, which my children loved. As for crime fiction, I think we have to mention Wilkie Collin’s The Moonstone, often considered to be the first detective novel. The Moonstone is a diamond, not a stone from the moon, but nonetheless…
Julie: Jessie, I love you to the moon and back is a saying in our family, inspired by that book. Makes me weepy to think about it. I love your new series, Liz/Cate. But my favorite moon story is from a movie. Apollo 13. I also loved the mini-series, From the Earth to the Moon. Capricorn One is another movie I loved, though the moon is faked in that one.
Edith/Maddie: My sons’s father used to say that to them, too, Julie, having gotten it from his mom. The main book that comes to mind is Goodnight Moon. I probably read that a thousand times to my boys. “Moon” was also my son Allan’s first word. He pointed to the midday sky and said “moon.” Sure enough, there it was!
Sherry: I love the book The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart and the Disney movie too. It’s set in Crete so if you need a virtual vacation I recommend the book or movie. The movie was filmed in Elounda, Greece. I think all the romantic suspense I read growing up really influenced my writing without me realizing it. If you loved the movie with Haley Mills or want to see it, it’s streaming on Disney+.
Liz: These are all awesome! What about you, readers? Tell us if you have a favorite book that features the moon in the comments below.
I recall a lovely romance with something about a blue moon in the title, but it has been too many years and I cannot recall more than that.
Oh, The Moonspinners – loved the movie. Now I have to track it down as I don’t get the Disney Channel.
The first book that came to mind was M.M. Kaye’s In the Shadow of the Moon. Her books about India during the Raj were so powerful. I don’t know how they would stand up in today’s sensibilities, though. Her writing was so evocative. I remember reading that she had kept copious diaries during her time in India. When she decided to write she looked in her diaries and found her notes so meticulous that there was even a reference to the posters on the walls of the train station in New Delhi.
I loved “Apollo 13.” And GOODNIGHT, MOON, Read that one over and over to my kids, and now we read it to my nephew.
“Fool’s Moon” – A Tarot Cats Mystery by Dianne A. S. Stuckart is my new favorite moon book! Love it!
I’m also a big fan of Apollo 13, too. My favorite scene in the movie (which always chokes me up) is when Jim Lovell’s mother, Blanche Lovell (played by director Ron Howard’s mother Jean Speegle Howard) asks her young granddaughter, Susan, “Are you scared? Don’t you worry honey. If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it.”
But, for me, the only possible choice is The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. It’s been one of my two favorite books of all times since I first read it as a teenager, back when books were chiseled on stone tablets. I still cry at the ending every single time I reread it. (FWIW, my other favorite is The Season by William Goldman.)
Although the first thing that came to mind upon reading your post was the wonderful old poem, “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes:
“The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor.
And the highwayman came riding–
Riding–riding–
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.”
Is that evocative? If you can’t see the moon and those clouds, then it’s probably time to cash in your chips and go to bed. The rest of the poem is full of images of the moonlight, and it’s always been a personal favorite.
Stella Luna immediately comes to mind.
I’m with Lee. I learned that poem in my Freshman year of HS and have always loved it. Yes, the imagery is very evocative.
Oh, I agree. I had forgotten that poem and we learned it as well.
Yes! From the Earth to the Moon was favorite mini-series. So well written and acted, with each episode depicting. a different part of the story. I’m the generation that can remember the first space flights – on the day, they brought a tv into our classroom so we could watch as it happened.
You can add me to the Apollo 13 fans. Although I haven’t watched that movie in a very long time.