Luna Lunita Lunera - Moony Luna, Del Sol Books

Luna Lunita Lunera - Moony Luna, Hardcover, Bilingual, Book, Jorge Argueta, Elizabeth Gomez, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9780892392056, $16.95 Out of Print :(

"No, no, I don't want to go to school!"

Five-year-old Luna isn't at all sure she wants to go school. For all she knows, there might be monsters there. But when her loving parents assure her that she'll have a wonderful time playing and learning, she agrees to give school a try. An understanding teacher and a group of friendly kids make Luna very, very glad she made the right decision. But what about the monsters?

Américas Award winner Jorge Argueta has crafted a loving bilingual tale, which all young school-goers will recognize as their own. Artist Elizabeth Gómez too understands the secret hearts of children, and her luminous, humorous illustrations of Luna and her friends will keep little ones fascinated for a long time to come.

Jorge Argueta, a widely honored poet and writer born in El Salvador, has a daughter Luna, who, many years ago, had her own questions about preschool. Today he has written many children's books, including A Movie in My Pillow and Xochitl and the Flowers. These books have received numerous prestigious prizes, including the Américas Award, the Independent Publishers Award, and the Skipping Stones Honor Award. He works extensively with children, leading workshops in schools and libraries and reading his stories, and also with humanitarian organizations throughout the U.S. He lives in San Francisco, CA.

Elizabeth Gómez, renowned for her brilliant illustrations for The Upside Down Boy and for A Movie in My Pillow, is a native of Mexico City currently living in California. She has received high praise and numerous honors for her spirited, imaginative artwork, most currently, the America's Award, and the Latino Spirit Award. Her two daughters like having a painter for a mom, even if sometimes that means they have to be very quiet while she works. She lives in Redwood City, CA.

Listen to Vienna Rose read Moony Luna to you. A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children.

"Argueta and illustrator Gómez have once again teamed up successfully to produce a genuinely thoughtful and beautifully written bilingual children's books. This story indulges the reader in the childhood pleasures of playfulness while providing for those teachable moments that can make or break that first entrance into school."
— MULTICULTURAL REVIEW, Summer 2005

"Argueta's poetic prose, with its reassuring rhythms and dynamic cadence, begs to be read aloud. The childlike pictorial quality of Gómez's acrylic paint and crayon illustrations, bursting with vibrant, mouth-watering colors, brings to life the cozy home and loving family of little Luna, as well as the figments of her sometimes comical and monster-oriented imagination."
— BLOOMSBURY REVIEW, July/August 2005

"This timeworn theme is made fresh with a lively, bilingual text full of familial love and Gómez's brilliant acrylic illustrations..."
— KIRKUS REVIEWS

School Library Journal : Kindergarten-Grade 1–Poor Luna! Tomorrow is the first day of kindergarten and she is nervous. Her parents are reassuring, and her mom reads her a story about a little monster who goes off to school and has a fine time. Bad idea. Luna fastens onto the idea of monsters at school and becomes even more concerned. Meeting the teacher is fine, but when her mother leaves, the child takes refuge under a table. Her classmates come to the rescue, and by the end of the day, Luna is a kindergarten veteran. The acrylic illustrations are charmingly primitive, with lots of zingy action and a kindergarten monster crayoned in. It mimics Luna's feelings, enhancing the poetic texts. A suitable companion to Nancy Carlson's Look Out, Kindergarten, Here I Come!/Preparante, kindergarten, alla voy! (Penguin, 1999), this will help allay those first-day fears.

Booklist : PreS-Gr. 1. This bilingual picture book presents with charming simplicity the fears five-year-old Luna experiences as she faces her first day of school. The little girl gives shape to her anxiety by visualizing it as the monster from a book her mother read to her the night before. The Spanish text, which was written first, has a pleasing poetic structure and a comforting rhythm that will reassure young listeners that Luna's fears will dissipate, even as she goes through the day, monster by her side. The English, on the other hand, is competent, but fails to replicate the soothing rhythm of the Spanish rendition. No matter the language, however, little ones will relish the final scene, in which Luna finally gains the confidence to banish her unwanted companion. The illustrations, well matched to the story, have the flat perspective and the vibrant colors of contemporary Latin American art, and Luna's little monster, in crayon-box colors rather than paint, gives the story a touch of magic realism. Although the family is Latino, the story's appeal is universal. There's one inconsistency: the Spanish text appears above the English inside the book, but not on the book jacket. Stella Clark