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Paper Plate Education
"Serving the Universe on a Paper
Plate"
Bad Moons Rising
A random sampling of children's books at a small local library
reveals frequent errors in how moon phases are depicted. Below are
excerpts from just a few of the books and brief descriptions of the stories.
What do you see wrong with these pictures? (Click on
the thumbnail image to enlarge.)
 Compare your observations with comments
about shortcomings and errors in the illustrations. With younger learners
for whom this is too advanced, use the images to begin or to support dialog
about the moon. Assume these scenes
occur in northern mid-latitudes. See More
Faux Phases I and More Faux Phases
II for additional book excerpts.
Meanwhile, illustrator Clement Hurd keeps a keen eye toward
astronomy and depicts the moons accurately in the classic children's book Goodnight
Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, as shown at the Good(night)
Moons Rising web page.
Make a Moon Finder to show the
position of the moon for any given phase and time. The poster
text accompanying these images is reprinted from the GLPA Proceedings, 1997, p. 161.
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Title
Author/Illustrator
Publisher |
The Story |
What's wrong
with this picture? |
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So That's How the Moon Changes Shape
Allan Fowler
Children's Press, Inc. |
Different moon shapes are labeled. |
|
 |
Title:
Author:
Illustrator:
[See correction below.]
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Cranes arrive to lift Percy the train out of
the water when "it was nearly dark" and a crescent moon is
visible. |
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Wake Up and Good Night
Author: Charlotte ZolotowI
Illustrator: Leonard Weisgard
Harper & Row |
Shortly after "the golden sun is
down," a crescent moon is visible above the buildings. |
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Half a Moon and One Whole Star
Author: Crescent Dragonwagon
Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney
Aladdin Books
(Macmillan Publishing Co.) |
The morning sun is rising while, above it,
"half a moon...falls and fades and will go soon." |
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So That's How the Moon Changes Shape
Allan Fowler
Children's Press, Inc. |
A diagram depicts the phases of the moon that
result from the moon's "traveling in a big circle around the
Earth." |
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Norton's Nighttime
Author/Illustrator:
Jane Breskin Zalben
William Collins Publishers, Inc. |
Three animals walk through the woods at night,
with the moon visible throughout the hike. |
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The Midnight Ride of Thomas the Tank
Engine
Author: Rev. W. Awdry
Illustrator: Owain Bell
Random House, Inc. |
The book cover shows a full moon low on the
horizon while a watch indicates the time is midnight. Throughout the
book, the train makes a midnight run while a crescent moon is visible in
the Christmas-time sky. |
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Around the Clock with Harriet
Author/Illustrator:
Betsy and Giulio Maestro
Crown Publishers, Inc. |
Harriet is going to bed at 8:00 p.m. with a
crescent moon visible out the window. |
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Not known.
(Please contact us if you know this
information.)
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A silhouetted family views a crescent moon,
presumably in the late evening. The text states, "Soon...the
new moon will rise." |
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Edward's Overwhelming Overnight
Author/Illustrator:
Rosemary Wells
Dial Books for Young Readers
(Penguin Books)
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The mother bear is shoveling snow with a
crescent moon visible. Later that night the father bear is driving
behind a snowplow with a crescent moon visible. |
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The Going to Bed Book
Author/Illustrator:
Sandra Boynton
Simon & Schuster |
The animals on a ship are preparing to go to
bed, with a crescent moon "on the rise." |
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Pyxx
Author/Illustrator:
Robert Wahl
Price Stern Sloan |
After ushering some children to bed, a boy
speaks to the moon "as the moon rose over Tangled Hill." |
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P.J. Funnybunny Camps Out
Author: Marilyn Sadler
Illustrator: Roger Bollen
Random House, Inc. |
Several animals are in a tent "soon
[after] it got dark" with a crescent moon seen outside. |
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Nine O'Clock Lullaby
Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator: Frane Lessac
Harper Collins |
A scene from nine o'clock in the evening in New
York is compared with concurrent scenes in other parts of the worl.
The moon is visible in several scenes. |
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It's Time to Go to Bed
Author: Joyce Segal
Illustrator: Robin Eaton
Doubleday & Company, Inc.
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Baby polar bears prepare to go to bed with a
crescent moon visible. |
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Goodnight, Gorilla
Author/Illustrator:
Peggy Rathman
G.P. Putnam's Sons |
A woman goes to bed with a crescent moon
visible out the window while the clock is at 10:35 p.m. |
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Why Does the Moon Change Its
Shape?
Author: Patricia Murphy
The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. |
Two images are described as the
near side and far side of the moon.
A series of images depict the phases of the moon.
Image accompanies description of a lunar eclipse. |
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Correction: The book showing Percy the train
being lifted out of the water was erroneously attributed. We apologize to
Owain Bell, who was not the illustrator of that book, as we had
suggested. We invite you to contact
us if you can correct the information on title, author, illustrator, and
publisher for that book. 7-8-03
Note: The images above are the copyrighted property of the respective
creators, as cited. The images are reproduced here for educational
purposes under the "Fair Use" premise of U.S. copyright law.
Please send examples both of bad moons and of good moons rising, preferably with a digital image and complete
information for each column in the table above. Thank you.
Contributed by Chuck
Bueter.
GLPA Proceedings, 1997, p. 161.
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