The night of the hiding moon by Emma Allen
Illus. by Sher Rill Ng. NLA Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9780642279583.
(Age: 7+) Highly recommended. From the wonderful cover to the last
page the luminous quality of the illustrations will entrance the
reader. Turning from the bright yellow of the cover the book shows
us young Felix, cowering under his blankets, frightened. The pages
are now in direct contrast to the image on the front cover: black
and dark, menacing and scary. The moon is hiding too from the
deafening giants strolling across the sky. But Felix reaches for his
torch and uses the light to make a shadow puppet on the wall by his
bed and decides to make one his friend, a companion who will support
him when the moon is in hiding.
Together they shake off the fear that the night brings, and the
puppets display the attributes so needed by Felix to defeat his
fears. Together they go outside, bold against the bright light of
the torch, emulating the light used behind shadow puppets in a
theatre, and bring back the moon from her hiding place.
The night of the hiding moon is a charming story about
finding courage in times of great desperation. Many find
thunderstorms a source of fear and anxiety, but Felix overcomes this
by confronting his fears, finding strength within himself.
Allen's delightful text allows Ng's strong illustrations to present
Felix's quest for courage in a way that all readers will understand
and enjoy. This tale uses traditional Asian puppetry as the puppets
conjured up by Felix and his torch and I love the inclusion of
several pages of background information on puppets used in the art
of storytelling, particularly in Indonesia, along with templates for
making your own shadow puppet. The puppets shown in the information
section are from the National Library's collection.
A wonderful read: an exciting story, imparting information about a
form of theatre we rarely see while giving children the opportunity
to make their own puppets. Themes: Shadow puppets, Fear, Anxiety,
Thunderstorms, Moon.
Fran Knight