THE MOON IS FOLLOWING US

A young trick-or-treater watches the moon follow her family to her grandmother’s Halloween party in this slice-of-life picture book.

Red-haired, brown-skinned Sam—dressed as part of the night sky, with stars and planets on her top and skirt and two buns that look like ringed planets—is excited about Grandma’s Halloween party. She’s also thrilled to see the full moon on Halloween. As her father drives over hills, Sam realizes the moon is following the family: “It’s keeping up with us. Look how big and bright it is now, Daddy!” At the party, Sam tells the other trick-or-treaters about her sighting, and all the children watch for the moon to follow them. At the end of the night, Sam tells the moon she’s too sleepy to play, and she drifts off to dreamland. Foley and Hargiss don’t attempt any explanation for why the moon appears to be following the family, merely using Sam’s observations as a framework for the enjoyable narrative. The vocabulary feels authentic to the experience of a preschooler or early elementary student, and emergent readers will find only a few potentially unfamiliar words (gleefully, flickers). Chamness’ illustrations, black-and-white sketches on the left page of each spread and digitally painted illustrations on the right, capture the Halloween spirit. Strangely, some images feature repeated characters that seem copied and pasted from earlier pages, including trick-or-treaters from Sam’s neighborhood who seem unlikely to have traveled to Grandma’s house. An owl inspires a seek-and-find game on each page.

A sweet Halloween tale.