Lying in bed one night, Liam wakes up and sees a bright light. It shines through the window and Liam can see his room is lit up as bright as can be. The young boy decides to go an investigate the mysterious bright light, and his imagination soon leads him on an amazing adventure.
Author Ann-Marie Finn uses simple, easy rhyme to tell this story about a young boy’s trip to the moon.
She uses rich language, including plenty of adjectives that will be both unknown and known to younger children.
The story was a little long in length for my two pre-schoolers. However, the idea behind the story – a rocket, flying to the moon, and aliens – may have been a little too unfamiliar for them.
As the book is set on the moon, Finn also uses lots of content-specific words; words like crater and rocket. This makes it a great book to read with children who already have some interest in the solar system and space.
The text itself features various fonts, which aids readers when reading aloud to younger audiences. The switch in font signifies a great place to add more expression and tone to reading. Different colours, capital letters and plenty of punctuation also create visual markers for reading aloud, while introducing younger readers to different writing conventions.
Simple illustrations allow for greater imagination. By keeping the pictures simple, children can easily imagine more to the story, or place themselves within the pictures and relate a time where they too have used their imagination.
However, while the pictures may be simple, they hold a great level of detail. Children will have lots of fun exploring the dark, moody illustrations and discovering every little detail. It’s a book that holds up well to multiple readings, with the illustrations offering more each viewing.
Finn ends the story with a great rhetorical question, designed to make children think. This question opened up a wonderful discussion, and would lend itself well as an instructional text to inspire some writing.
A Trip To The Moon takes younger readers on a journey with their imaginations, right alongside Liam.
Reviewer: Rebekah Fraser
Yellow Brick Books, RRP $14.99