THE MOON WAS THE BEST

A love letter to (and from) Paris, introduced by a child's request to her mother, who's going there: "Remember...the things I'd like." In a dozen full-bleed photos, Hoban captures just that, in luminous images sampling the city's rich variety—not the familiar monuments but, rather, a well-groomed park with chestnuts in flower; a row of tall houses glowing gold beneath a double rainbow; the sparkling Seine; bookstalls; pigeons; loaves under a soberly coated arm; flowers; "parks like paintings and paintings like parks." Among the exquisitely observed particulars, Hoban always includes something of special interest to children—a patient little dog at an outdoor cafe, a prancing horse in a fountain. Zolotow rounds out her gracefully poetic text with one of the lovely, warm touches for which she's so well known: "the moon was the best because it was the same moon shining on you..." The unusually harmonious text-page designs feature calligraphic borders and vignettes from the larger photos. A charming collaboration. (Picture book. 3+)