#359 of 1001 · July 25, 2021

There’s a delicate sweetness and magic to @jeankim_illustration’s Rabbit Moon. Every night, the residents of Earth (here a cadre of anthropomorphic animals) write down their dearest wishes on sheets of paper, which they fold into airplanes. These airplanes are sent soaring up to the moon, where the sole inhabitant, Rabbit, collects them in a mortar, pounds them into stars, and flings them into the night sky. One day, Rabbit puffs a star full of air, inflating it like a balloon, and rides it down to earth. After a crash landing, an encounter with the local animals, and hours of exuberant play, it is time to return to the moon and resume the transformation of wishes into stars. However, the animals have one last package to deliver to Rabbit, which ensures their connection will never be truly lost. Kim unfolds her story in spare text, bolstered by slant rhyme and a loose, playful meter. Her illustrations, executed in pencil and colored digitally, are presented in a comic-strip layout; we view the endearing characters and their peaceful environments from a variety of dynamic perspectives. A note for folklore enthusiasts: in a prefatory author’s note, Kim explains that she drew inspiration for her story from her native Korean folk tradition, which interprets the markings on the face of the moon as a mystical rabbit pounding rice into rice cakes. #rabbit #moon #animal #animals #paper #airplanes #stars #wishes #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks