The Usborne Book of the Moon

Where is the moon? How old is it? How big is it? Does anything grow there? What do different people believe about the moon? Is it made of cheese?

The moon might not be made of cheese and, despite appearances, probably doesn’t have a giant hare living on it (unless we’re talking about the goddess Chang’e who lives on the moon with her pet rabbit, according to Chinese myth), but there are a variety of fascinating things to be learnt about it.

We learn about how a variety of cultures from ancient Egyptians to early Jewish communities used the moon to mark time and celebrate lunar events such as eclipses and the new moon. The book also mentions lesser-known figures in western history such as Mariam al-Asturlabi, maker of astrolabes, and takes us through history, highlighting the work of early moon photographers like Louis Daguerre and John William Draper and through to the famous Space Race.

Aimed at mid-Primary aged children, this attractive book is light touch but covers a variety of topics connected to the moon. The inclusion of the importance of the moon in the mythology of various cultures humanises a subject that can veer strongly to the purely scientific and tech-based.