I Know the Moon

In Anderson's first children's book, the author compellingly likens the moon to a work of art, each onlooker bringing to it his or her own experience. Deep in the forest, a group of animals gather to discuss the moon, but cannot agree on how to define it. For the fox, it's a rabbit, ""swift and large and glowing,"" while the moth sees a cocoon, ""a place where moths of legend are born and fly like stars to light the sky."" Perhaps the mouse's interpretation is most poetic: ""Planted deep in night soil, it blooms as a sunflower by day and warms my back, then slips to seed again at dusk. It is a seed in endless bloom."" To settle their dispute, they visit the Man of Science, who boils it down into cold, hard facts. ""It takes more than words to know the moon, it must be chased and felt and seen,"" says the fox. Couch conjures an ethereal world with acrylic wash and colored pencil, scattering stars across the pages like spangled fairy dust and dipping his brush in the misty hues of midnight. Like the lyrical text, his illustrations deftly contrast hard-edged fact with the willowy world of imagination: the scientist's square face and wiry hair stand out in sharp relief against the lean, fluid flow of the fox and oval owl. This luscious picture book may well leave readers moonstruck. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)