Lin, Grace. Big Mooncake for Little Star. Grace Lin, Illus. Picture Book. Little, 08/2018. [32]pp. $17.99. 978-0-316-40448-8. OUTSTANDING. GRADES PRE-2.
Star’s mother bakes a huge mooncake and lays it “onto the night sky to cool.” She asks her daughter not to touch the cake until she has permission. When Star wakes up in the middle of the night, she decides her mother won’t notice if she takes a tiny bite, and if she eats another few bites the next night and the night after that. When Mama finds that the mooncake is gone, she cheerfully assures her daughter that they can make another one. Lin’s opaque watercolors illustrations include a bright yellow mooncake, an appealing child’s blanket, and stars and stardust contrasting starkly against a black background. In a two-page spread, the mooncake’s shape changes like the waning of the moon until it is only a thin crescent as a result of Star’s nibbling. In her author’s note, Lin explains that she wants to imbue her book with the “joy, love, and beauty” that she associates with the Autumn Moon Festival, and she succeeds wonderfully.
Katrina Bergen, Berkeley Public Library