277. The Man in the Moon by William Joyce

The Man in the Moon by William Joyce (Canada) - (US)
The Guardians of Childhood, book 0

Pages: 56
Ages: 5+
Finished: Dec. 18, 2011
First Published: Sep. 6, 2011
Publisher: Atheneum
Genre: children, picture book, steampunk, fantasy
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

Of course you know the Guardians of Childhood.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Reason for Reading:  I received this book unsolicited but it captured my fancy as soon as I saw it.

This is an absolutely beautiful book.  First of all it reminds me of a late 19th century picturebook with the lavish illustration, the text and the layout when looking at the endpages, the title page, the first page and so on.  It has that old-time feel about it, but as one really starts looking the illustrations one recognizes the steampunk theme, the clockworks, the airships.  Pure delight!  In fact I'm not sure whether I enjoyed the pictures or the story most here.  A whimsical story of how the man in the moon got to be there, what he does and how he gathered the guardians of childhood together.  Starting with himself, the keeper of lost balloons and secret wishes, he also found Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and others who would protect children from Pitch the keeper of Nightmares.  This is a book for all ages and just the beginning of a new series that will include picture and chapter books.  This one must be bought in the 'tree' version though, you simply will not get the same aesthetic experience from an ereader!