Many Moons -- James Thurber

“Many Moons,” by James Thurber is a modern fantasy story about a young princess who falls ill. She says that she will only get better when someone brings her the moon. After the king’s three wisest men fail to do so because the moon is too far away and too big, he rests helpless and asks the jester what he thinks to do. The jester decides to ask the princess how big and far away the moon is, and she says not far since it rests in the branches of the trees at night and not big since she can cover it up with her thumbnail. The jester gets the goldsmith to make a small gold moon for the princess, and she returns to good health, but further issues arise when the king becomes distressed because the moon will rise again and the princess will know that her moon is a fake. When the three wise men fail the king again with this issue, the jester decides to go talk to the princess, who says that it’s easy to understand why the moon comes back. Its just like when she looses a tooth and a new one grows in it’s place or when a gardener cuts a flower and a new one grows back.

Just as the title suggests, there can be many moons. Despite what the actual scientific reasons are for things, it is quite possible to let your imagination run free and decide for yourself just what the moon is. I found this book great because it encourages readers to be free thinkers and not simply believe that things are impossible because others say so. It encourages imagination and self discovery, which is great for the intended reader.

After reading this book, I might encourage readers to create their own depiction of the moon. They could create the moon just how they see it every night, despite what others tell them to believe about it. With their moon, they could create a brief summary explaining how and why they view the moon the way that they do. This book could also be used to discuss how no ones views are right and wrong. A teacher could bring in an everyday object that could be passed around the class, and the kids could describe the different ways that they would use it, encouraging imagination just like the book.