alysoninthelibrary's review
5.0
Beautiful! A little girl spreads shining crumbs through the book, creating stars. Inspired by the Chinese Moon Festival!
afro8921's review
4.0
I loved the mix of Chinese celebrations with the lunar cycle of the moon. The illustrations are beautiful and vivid, perfectly complimenting the text of the story. Great story for one on one reading.
heatherbermingham's review
3.0
I love, love, love Grace Lin's middle grade books, but this one didn't strike me quite as hard. It is, however, absolutely beautiful - I love the black backgrounds and the way the stars on the black pajamas almost blend right into those backgrounds - and I do think it would make for a nice way to introduce the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes, etc. to kids. I wish the author's note about the Mid-Autumn Festival had been a page in the actual book rather than on the dust jacket where I think a child - and even some adults - are a lot less likely to see it.
rryep's review
5.0
**Magic Realism, Family - Mother & Daughter
+biPOC characters (main)
+biPOC author
+Note from Author
+biPOC characters (main)
+biPOC author
+Note from Author
lelex's review
5.0
This was so lovely and whimsical and I love love loved the black background throughout the whole book.
msgabbythelibrarian's review
3.0
I should have reviewed "A Big Mooncake for Little Star" a few days ago.......because if I had, I would have said I expected it to win something Caldecott. But now I can say that and feel like I'm just jumping on the wagon.
So my opinion of this book is mixed. What I did love was how you can teach about the moon cycles to children with this book. Granted, my kindergarten class didn't quite get the concept but it was worth a try ;) The illustrations are very great! And because Grace Lin is typically a fiction writer I enjoyed see this side of her.
What I didn't love was not knowing whether or not the "mooncake" was based on any folklore, history, etc. It wasn't only until today and reading the cover jacket that I discovered these things.....
It's worth a read, especially if you want to look at all of the 2019 Caldecott honorees.
So my opinion of this book is mixed. What I did love was how you can teach about the moon cycles to children with this book. Granted, my kindergarten class didn't quite get the concept but it was worth a try ;) The illustrations are very great! And because Grace Lin is typically a fiction writer I enjoyed see this side of her.
What I didn't love was not knowing whether or not the "mooncake" was based on any folklore, history, etc. It wasn't only until today and reading the cover jacket that I discovered these things.....
It's worth a read, especially if you want to look at all of the 2019 Caldecott honorees.
shighley's review
5.0
I never get tired of looking at these illustrations! How talented is Grace Lin, that she can paint like this and write such a variety of books? Plus, I like that this book will challenge the reader at first to understand the story, and not just accept the literal.
mjfmjfmjf's review
3.0
Cute Caldecott Honor picture book explaining without telling why the moon gets smaller over a month. Nice art. Kind of mildly repetitive text. Pleasant. But really not enough here. Not bad though.