A Fort on the Moon

Praise

“Watercolor and gouache pictures by Day (Found) have an immediacy that matches the brothers’ confidence and unalloyed affection. Pouncey, making her picture book debut, contributes an astute, tender portrayal of the siblings’ bond”—Publishers Weekly

“The illustrations’ blend of realism and fantasy may prove irresistible enough to some children that they may even need to be warned against taking the imaginative trip too literally and attempting a launch of their own. Great fun.”—Booklist

“Day’s illustrations (‘pencil, pen, and ink with watercolor and gouache’), starring a family with subtly varying skin tones, skillfully alternate spot art, panels, single pages, and double-page spreads. An appealingly textured warm blue serves as stand-in for the inky darkness of night and outer space—fitting the narrative’s upbeat spirit.” —The Horn Book

“A Fort on the Moon is filled with authentic—never patronizing—details that capture how children perceive the world. . . . Children will delight at the boys’ lunar antics and may even be touched by the brotherly bonding that occurs when Dodge realizes that, if it weren’t for his brother, he would have given up. A Fort on the Moon marries art and story for a combination that’s truly out of this world.”—BookPage

“There’s lots of warm, child-friendly character . . .  the luscious watercolors that capture snug domestic scenes, the frantic, tumultuous fort-building sequence, and, most especially, the sweeping double-page spreads of the velvety, star-filled night sky are worth a look.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Pouncey pitches this at an audience just beginning to negotiate unreliable narrators and trickster authors, with a narrative that could supply a sophisticated reading that attributes the boys’ activities to imagination or dreams yet requires reconsideration when Mom mentions that the junk stored on the roof has gone missing. Day encourages this head scratching with lively mixed media artwork that revels in the cobbled-together spaceship and fort—wondrously inviting to build and to occupy—immersing viewers in make-believe play as prelude to Pouncey’s reveal that this might all have been the real deal.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books