Review: Kissed by the Moon

This latest offering from the Australian Children’s Laureate, Alison Lester, is breathtaking. The front cover announces new life, with mother and child looking over a lake with mountains in the background depicted in night shades of purple and blue shadowed by the moon. Gold indented lettering is used for the title. It all proclaims brilliance before the book is opened.

The text is full of love and emotion and welcomes the newborn with the warmth and overwhelming love that surges at the sight of a newborn.

The child is introduced to the world in soft pink dawns and creeping light. It bestows upon it wishes related to nature’s elements and sounds and the earth’s provisions; the kind that grow and the living things that creep and crawl.

In a hymn to life using poetic prose and embraced by the complementing illustrations,  the child is encouraged to welcome and show kindness to all living creatures; to love animals, to use all its senses to discover the world, and to find joy in every season and every path in life. To dream, and be kissed by the moon.

Title: Kissed by the Moon
Author/Illustrator: Alison Lester
Publisher: Penguin, $19.95 RRP
Publication Date: September 2013
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780670076758
For ages: 0+
Type: Picture Book