I Want the Moon

In this story we meet a little boy whose parents struggle to find a way to please him so that he stops crying. They give him countless gifts, but nothing stops the screaming. Inviting the little boy from next door to play makes things worse; in no time they are fighting over toys. One night, in desperation, the boy’s parents offer to buy him anything he wants, but what he wants is the moon! 

The boy grows up to be a rich businessman, but he still longs to own the moon – so he sets about achieving his aim, thoughtlessly destroying homes and a school to create the space to do so. When he eventually builds a ‘Get Moon’ machine and reaches the moon he finds, to his surprise, he is not alone; his childhood rival is there too. Things do not go according to plan leading to near disaster and a hard lesson learnt.

This is a story about greed and selfishness and the power of working together to deal with big problems. Ostensibly set in the nineteenth century, the clothing and many of the settings evoke the Industrial Revolution. The timelessness of the theme and relevance of the story to modern audiences is highlighted with clever touches – the boy’s parents give him an iPad as well as a teddy, they suggest a ‘playdate’ and the street scenes include drones as well as penny farthings, baby slings alongside perambulators. Adult readers will recognise the suggestion of the monopoly branding and greed of modern tycoons in the city scene and also the hint of Neil Armstrong’s famous words – ‘one giant step’. 

The text is rhyming, a device which helps to create the sense of a traditional cautionary tale. The illustrations are beautiful, with Preston-Gannon’s familiar textured artwork. The book design is very attractive, from the choice of borders and framing to the gold leaf on the cover. The end papers are carefully thought out too, showing the plan for the ‘Get Moon’ machine at the front of the book and the patched-up moon at the end.