#392 of 1001 · August 27, 2021

For a burst of music, magic, and love, try Roxane Marie Galliez and @cathy_delanssay’s Give Me the Moon. In wintertime Venice, Marcello the poet plays beautiful music on his violin for all to hear. A young woman named Ava pines for Marcello, but despairs of ever catching his attention. Vincent, Ava’s suitor, vows that he can give her the moon as a symbol of his love. Sure enough, he retrieves the moon, pulling it down to Ava’s window on a long string. The moon proceeds to carry Vincent and Ava up into the sky. Marcello grows despondent in Ava’s absence, and his sadness moves Ava to tears. One of her tears falls to earth, causing a seed to sprout into a miraculous tree overnight. Marcello carves this tree into an instrument resembling an oversized violin, which captivates everyone with its sonorous timbre. The birds begin to chirp Marcello’s name, but the listeners only hear “cello…cello…” giving rise to a new name for the string instrument. Galliez, whose text was translated from French by Susan Allen Maurin, uses ethereal romantic fantasy as the backdrop for a playful etiology of the violoncello (as noted in a brief foreword on the title page), while Delanssay provides luminous illustrations replete with blooming flowers and twinkling stars #moon #violin #tree #cello #venice #music #love #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks