Hockey, Simple Pleasure With Perfect Ice, and Moon Phases Create This Gorgeous Picture Book for All Ages

Paul Harbridge's When the Moon Comes is a gorgeous picture book that is recommended for ages 4-8, but adults who enjoy picture books will find this story to be one which lets us know that the simple pleasures in life can be the best.

The children are anxiously waiting for winter and the perfect ice for their first hockey game of the season. November has brought no signs of cold and the ducks are also waiting for the first sign of winter cold. There is no snow yet and the ice on the lake has not come. December finally arrives and the lake is finally frozen. But Arthur says that they have to wait for the perfect moon. The children watch the moon phases night after night through the weeks. Everyone is impatient and thoughts of their first hockey game of the season are exciting. The moon is finally bright and full on a Sunday night. The children decide on Monday at school that the perfect night has finally arrived and it is time for their first game. They start on their journey through the woods at four o'clock on Monday afternoon after school. The first winter snow is deep and the winter wind bites at their faces. The finally arrive at the frozen lake by the time night has come. They enjoy a campfire and put on their skates. The ice is perfect. The moon is bright and very full. Their game ends suddenly when their puck flies under a snow pile and it's time to go home. But the children now have a memory of their first hockey game of the season with the perfect ice and a perfect moon that provided light. Sometimes nature is a simple pleasure that we enjoy and should not take for granted.

Paul Harbridge writes this simple story with easy to read text and beautiful descriptions of winter. Matt James contributes his talent as an illustrator with magnificent colors of turquoise, winter pastels, and large illustrations that fill each page. The illustrations are of special interest with details of the children's adventure with their first hockey game of the season.

When the Moon Comes was published by Tundra Books, a division of Penguin/Random House and is recommended for ages 4-8. It has an ISBN of 978-1-10191-777-0.

I used picture books for teaching many concepts for all subjects in my early childhood classroom through the years. Harbridge's When the Moon Comes is one that I would choose to teach about the moon. Young children are always fascinated by the topic of space, planets, and the moon. This beautiful picture book is a favorite of mine in that one of the pages is filled with a complete illustration of the phases of the moon. This illustration provides the beginning of a lesson to study the moon.

*Read When the Moon Comes in a group story time reading period.

*Call attention to the illustration of the moon phases.

*Provide drawing paper and crayons for the children to draw their own pictures of the moon phases. I also provided my class with large manila paper with empty circles of a full moon and cut-outs from yellow paper of slivers to glue onto the circles to show the moon phases.

*Give the children a homework assignment to watch the moon from home each night and draw the phases of the moon as they see it change through the weeks in any given month. You might want to use this as a writing assignment to create their own personal diary of a month of moon phases. If your children are too young to write, have them dictate their descriptions of how the moon looks in each phase.

*A science experiment showing water changing to ice can also be part of extending interest in this book. The children in When the Moon Comes were anxiously waiting for ice to form for their first hockey game. Have a bowl of water ready to freeze and use a thermometer to observe the temperature at which water becomes ice. You can always make popsicles with ice cubes to have as a treat after reading.