Said the little raccoon to the moon (A Magic circle book)

I was surprised to discover that most of this book is a page by page, sentence by sentence translation or adaptation of Chat Lune by Albertine Deletaille. I rather prefer the illustrations of Chat Lune and miss that immortal line “Miaou! Badaboum!”, but I’m no doubt prejudiced because of having loved Chat Lune for sixty years. Certainly Jon Provest’s rustic woodcuts perfectly suit the scruffy little raccoon who, unlike the kitten, does not get adopted by kind children at the end of the story and turns to the moon for consolation.