THE DAY MOON AND EARTH HAD AN ARGUMENT, cogent, cute, helpful, and sneakily educational

THE DAY MOON AND EARTH HAD AN ARGUMENT
DAVID DUFF (illus. Noemi Vola)
Princeton Architectural Press (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$18.99 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Embark on an astronomical adventure through the solar system with this whimsical picture book that begins with a little rift in one of the most celebrated relationships in the universe.

All friends have disagreements. But when the friends are the Moon and planet Earth, the consequences are pretty cosmic!

After 4.5 billion years together, Moon has had enough of Earth. So, she packs her things and sets off to see what the solar system has to offer. On her galactic tour, Moon sweeps young readers along on a delightful and educational journey.

From scorching Venus to giant Jupiter, Moon encounters the oddities and charms of all the other planets on her journey. But as she reaches the cold and lonely edge of the solar system, she begins to wonder whether Earth is really so bad after all . . .

With vibrant illustrations, a dash of humor, and heartfelt explorations of emotions like anger and empathy, this children’s book about friendship beautifully conveys the value of connection and the invaluable lesson that sometimes what we’re looking for is closer than we think.

Offering a fun and practical review of the planets and their characteristics throughout, The Day Moon and Earth Had an Argument also includes two full spreads at the back of the book filled with fascinating facts about our solar system, information about gravity, how the moon was formed, and more.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I just can't with this book! It's so completely, beguilingly adorable. I love the art, which of course is utterly subjective. I'm also a big fan of sneaking two kinds of message into one story...astronomy lessons, emotional guidance, and the commonsensical way they're framed together. The farther away from each other Earth and Moon get, the less things are familiar, and that's scientifically accurate as well as a good thing to reinforce about friendship in this very young (four or so on the lap-reader end, maybe six or a slower seven independently reading) target group.

close neighbor or not Venus is no Earth!

In offering sneaky factual lessons while addressing a very real emotional problem lots of kids will face as they move outside the family circle. Friendship is a skill, one we're all wise to maintain with care. Anger, feeling hurt, not understanding what just happened or knowing what to do about it...all those things are dealt with (while sneaking in astronomy lessons).

all the way out, and still no one's like Earth

Making things right is hard, but it can be done, and it's a big accomplishment when it's done. Wonderful little tale delivering a big message (and sneaking in cool facts in its pretty illustrations).

BRIGHT OBJECTS, shiny start to a promising new career

BRIGHT OBJECTS
RUBY TODD
Simon & Schuster
$28.99 hardcover, available now

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: A young widow grapples with the arrival of a once-in-a-lifetime comet and its tumultuous consequences, in a debut novel that blends mystery, astronomy, and romance, perfect for fans of Emma Cline’s The Girls and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Death in Her Hands.

Sylvia Knight is losing hope that the person who killed her husband will ever face justice. Since the night of the hit-and-run, her world has been shrouded in hazy darkness—until she meets Theo St. John, the discoverer of a rare comet soon to be visible to the naked eye.

As the comet begins to brighten, Sylvia wonders what the apparition might signify. She is soon drawn into the orbit of local mystic Joseph Evans, who believes the comet’s arrival is nothing short of a divine message. Finding herself caught between two conflicting perspectives of this celestial phenomenon, she struggles to define for herself where the reality lies. As the comet grows in the sky, her town slowly descends further and further into a fervor over its impending apex, and Sylvia’s quest to uncover her husband’s killer will push her and those around her to the furthest reaches of their very lives.

A novel about the search for meaning in a bewildering world, the loyalty of love, and the dangerous lengths people go to in pursuit of obsession, Bright Objects is a luminous, masterfully crafted literary thriller.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: A debut novel from a very accomplished author, one whose best gift is the deft touch of characterization. I felt very connected to Sylvia from the get-go, her fuddled and bewildered survivor's guilt, her unostentatious revenge-seeking against the one responsible for her loss, and her deep but unwilling fascination with a charismatic local cult leader.

The lovely patterns Author Todd weaves among these strands, spinning her threads from the ever-renewed internal structures of loss, guilt, sadness, and outrage, don't sag or drop. They're sometimes not as harmoniously tinted as a veteran writer might choose...the mother-in-law in particular is rather paler than I'd expected, Theo the astronomer a bit too intense...but these are quibbles. Not a line out of place, not a word (even when a not-American word crops up) wasted or obscured.

The lack of a full fifth star on my rating isn't because of some sense of disappointment. I got what I wanted. The plot...revenge-driven widow struggles to cope with her loss and her survivor guilt will catch me in its web every time...is consistent, is finished with an appropriate, yet unexpected, ending. What bothered me, and this is really a very *me* thing to be tangled up in, was the comet. A comet, one on a path to get this close to Earth, is not going to go undetected for very long. We're motivated, since Shoemaker-Levy 9 smacked Jupiter so very hard in 1994, to go looking for these kinds of objects.

Okay, so that's a half-star lost. A tiny smidgeon of the tarnish on my shiny loving cup of pleasure also traces to Theo and his own warping loss. It's a trope I find painfully Writerly, is the Conjunction of Damaged Souls. Theo's issues were understandably similar to Sylvia's; his response to her darkness was believable. His discovery of her, in Australia, where he happens to be for the confirmation of a career-defining discovery, is what rings false to me. As always I want this kind of other-directed man to exist; I suspect he isn't to be found in a man about to ascend to the heights of his ambitions. I also see the facile characterization of Joseph Evans, and honestly, since he's such a bell-end of a grifter, I just don't care.

Quibbles and crotchets aside, everything Author Todd does in this story fits. The mystery plot, the way it's rooted in the ugliness of revenge, the focus of the two leads on their personal quests, all works as a whole. The manner in which the ending's made manifest felt satisfying to me. I'm struggling with myself not to spoiler it (though I really want to!) because experiencing the event blind is a pleasure enhancer.

Tyro author does a fine job, will most likely do better next time, and very much deserves your treasure and time.