Stead, Emily E. Music for Mr. Moon. Written by Philip C. Stead. Neal Porter Books, 2019.

Emily E. Stead's delicate pencil drawing introduces an ethereal environment in the first opening of Music for Mr. Moon. The image on the recto, framed by the white of the page, "provides a limited glimpse 'into' a world" (Moebius, 141), one in which the book's protagonist is unhappy, stuck in her seat and misunderstood by her parents. The thin, airy lines in the illustration suggest Harriet (or Hank, as the text later informs she prefers to be called), is not as confined as she appears and can be anyone, anywhere else.

Harriet and the table and chairs are shaded more heavily that the other figures and objects in the illustration, which gives them more weight on the page. In the middle ground of the image, Harriet is detailed from head to toe. The lines of her hair are at points light and others dark, the stripes in her sweater are defined, her jeans are shaded, and her shoes are dark. In comparison, her parents are so lightly drawn in the background, with emphasis only given to the curved lines of their hair and eyeglasses, that it seems they will soon disappear. This notion is emphasized by the glaring white space they occupy, instead of the warm yellow and orange colors present on either side of them. Will they be whisked up and away? Leaving Harriet's cello aside for a moment, the chairs upon which Harriet sits and her parents' hands rest provide the most continuous shaded dark gray space on the page. The table gleams white in the room's center. These figures and objects are real, part of the world in which Harriet is stuck.

Harriet's cello is located prominently in the center of the illustration. While its neck is shaded dark grey, the body is shaded so lightly that it is rendered transparent. Similarly, what are presumably Harriet's stuffed toys, the walrus and bear sitting together on a chair, are shaded very lightly. This technique makes the objects appear as though they are not really in the room with Harriet. While thoughts of playing the cello weigh on Harriet's mind, she has imagined the animals there to keep her company as she eats her meal. As soon as she is done, they will go with her to another place, where she is happy, free, and understood.

Works Cited

Moebius, William. “Introduction to Picturebook Codes.” Children’s Literature: The Development of Its Criticism, edited by Peter Hunt. Routledge, 1990, pp. 131-147.

Stead, Emily E. Music for Mr. Moon. Written by Philip C. Stead. Neal Porter Books, 2019.