THE LOVE OF THE MOONLIGHT

A nighttime poem rooted in a city landscape, encouragement to be compassionate, and, of course, moonlight.

“If we loved, / much like the moon, / then would we / be as kind?” is the question—and challenge—posed here. Nameless people with varied skin tones and body types move through a city’s sleepy streets under the sliver of a moon. Moonlight is a peaceful comfort and combatant in the face of nighttime monsters, portrayed as the scary shadows cast by an ominous coat rack. The palette of blues, reds, greens, and black is expertly shaded, conveying a dreamy mood appropriate to the subject. In one scene, it is implied that if more people acted with love like the moon’s, a person wouldn’t be stuck pushing their broken car alone through the streets. On another page, the text “The moonlight makes us silhouettes, / and people of one race, / shining down on everyone / equally with grace” is paired with an image of a light-skinned person in bell-bottoms, a Black person with headphones and a hoodie, a portly White construction worker, and a tan-skinned skateboarder. It’s an odd choice that reflects a flattening, outdated, colorblind approach to race. Though for the most part the ideas about treating others with empathy are commendable and the illustrations are carefully crafted, it doesn’t make up for the text’s rather simplistic approach to the differences that define us. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Art shines but words wobble.