A very strange mix of 19th century children's fable and older fairy tales with the Moon Angel being death/transition. The chapter headings have the charm of Howard Pyles wood cut style drawings while the realistic illustrations are more pedestrian than fanciful. ( )

A book that makes you think long after you finish it, this is extremely reminiscent of George MacDonald's fairy tales and was first published around the same era.

David, a boy other children ridicule as a moon-calf, takes the moonlight path over the ocean and into the moon itself. After months of living in the moon and playing in the moon's garden, David embarks on a quest to retrieve something that was taken from the brown earth long ago. ( )

I didn't finish this, it wasn't very good. I stopped on pg 42. ( )

See Discovering Howard Pyle at From Word to Word.

Howard Pyle's The Garden Behind the Moon tells the story of how one boy, mockingly called "moon calf" for his slowness by the other children, discovered how to walk the moon-path up, up, up all the way to the moon. There he met the Man-in-the-Moon, the Moon-Angel, and the children who play in the Garden behind the moon — and is given a task fit for a hero.

The story has some interesting biblical echoes, like Adam and Eve (or shall I say, Eve and Adam) and a scene very much like the encounter between David and Goliath. I do like Pyle's tone, though too much of it would get old. He enjoys making fun of "wise people who have two sets of spectacles on their noses," and mentions rather often how silly the moon-path must sound to people who fancy themselves learned. It reminded me a bit of C. S. Lewis' grandfatherly style, but Pyle is more heavyhanded with it and it's just as well the book is short. I was also reminded of Astrid Lindgren's The Brothers Lionheart with the themes of the story (i.e. where people go after death).

Overall, an enjoyable story for moon-calves and non-moon-calves alike — if the latter can prop up their spectacles far enough to read it. ( )