Max and the Tag-along Moon

When I saw Floyd Cooper had a new book out, I couldn’t wait to read it. This one is about a little boy who goes to visit his grandpa, and was sad to leave. But “Granpa” told him the moon would follow him home and always shine for him. Sure enough, Max sees the moon the whole trip, until clouds come out and it goes away. He felt alone and missed Granpa and missed the moon:

"Then slowly, very slowly, Max’s bedroom began to fill with a soft yellow glow. The clouds faded away and the moon peeked through!”

Max knew whenever he saw the moon he would think of Granpa, and that soft yellow light would embrace him just like Granpa does.

Evaluation: This is a wonderful story, and the warm illustrations by Floyd Cooper live up to the usual show more high standards we have come to expect from him. He fills all the space on the pages with sepia pictures highlighted with spots of color, and his faces are so warm and expressive that you want to hug everyone in his stories! This feel-good book will be just right for any kid whose grandparents don’t live nearby. show less

This beautifully illustrated book is a must read for those of us who carry memories of one or more of our special grandparent(s).
Max misses his grandpa every time he must leave. To help him with his sadness, his grandpa tells him that the same bright mon that is above his house, is the same moon that will follow him allow the way home.

Worried when the moon disappears behind clouds, Max merely must learn patience until the dark clouds will soon break through, producing the bright, big moon.. This book brought back memories of spending a weekend with my beloved grandmother and sadly counting down the minutes until the expected time of my father's arrival to pick me up approached.

Max gives Granpa a big ol' hug good-bye, and together they admire the bright full moon. Granpa tells him, "That ol' moon will always shine for you...on and on!" and Max takes the promise to heart, tracking it the whole car ride home. When it disappears behind cloud cover, Max feels lonely crawling into his bed, missing it and missing Granpa. Slowly the moon reappears, and Max basks in the comfort of its glow and Granpa's words.

The pictures are the star of this show. Softly painted landscapes are bathed in the shadow of a moonlit night. The close-up portraits of Max and Granpa are truly astonishing. Because the descriptive prose tends to caption the imagery closely, I would ask the story time audience "What's happening now?" or "Where is show more Max going next?" before reading the text on some pages. show less

A gentle, sweet book wherein a little boy's grandfather assures him that the moon they enjoyed together will always shine on him, and sure enough, through most of the swervy-curvy car ride home, it does. But nearing home, the moon disappears and he misses grandpa. He's reassured when the moon reemerges from the clouds and his bedroom is bathed in soft light. The illustrations are soothing and soft, and the text is lyrical yet simple.

In this children’s picture book, the main character, Max, develops a strong interest in the moon’s shine. In this story, the moon symbolizes the strength of Max and his grandfather’s bond, because it always shines for Max. The illustrations go hand-in-hand with the storyline, creating a good visual for young readers to understand the story without ready the words. The plot thickens when the moon disappears behind the clouds, and Max second guesses the power of the moon’s shine. When the moon peaks beyond the dark clouds, Max automatically thinks of his grandfather, making for an adorable ending to a story.

In my opinion, this is a really good book. I liked this book for the illustrations. I feel as though the illustrations were used to tell the story more than the text was. There wasn't usually more than about 4 sentences on a page and they were short, so most of the page room was used for the illustrations to enhance the story. The illustrations also were not very bright and colorful, but more soft and fuzzy which was helpful in setting the mood for the story since it had to do with night time.

Another reason that I liked this book was for the writing. In a way, the story was written very softly which set the tone for the story. It flowed nicely and was paced well. An example of when I see this throughout the book is a passage from the show more book that says "Up a hill, down a hill, the moon was ever there. Over a bridge, around a curve, the moon bounced along!" It was short and easy to follow which is good for young readers.

I think the big idea of this story is just to focus on love and memory. The ever shinning moon is a reminder to Max of his grandpa, someone that he loves very much. show less

This was a heartwarming read. The children I read it to stayed very concerned about Max and where the moon went. They were happy to know that in the end the moon was still there. This book is about a little boy named Max. He didn't want to leave his grandfather's home, but his grandfather said not to worry that he would be looking at the same moon as Max and the moon would follow him home. Max spent the entire ride home finding the moon in the sky and when he finally got home he could not find the moon. After starting to get sad that he couldn't find the moon, the moon finally appeared in the sky making Max happy again.
A good classroom extension activity for this book may be to ask the children why Max was so worried about the moon show more following him home and how did it make him feel when he couldn't find it any more and then when he found it. show less