Kitten's First Full Moon

Kitten’s First Full Moon was published in 2004. Written by Kevin Henkes, Kitten’s First Full Moon won the Caldecott award in 2005 as one of the most distinguished American picture book for children that year. It follows the same lovable style as Henke’s other famous books such as Chrysanthemum and the ever popular Penny series.

Kitten’s First Full Moon tells the tale of a small kitten perplexed by the giant circle in the night sky. The kitten is sure that this round, white object is a giant bowl of milk. She tries licking it, jumping to it, even climbing a tree. She never gets the bowl of milk in the sky, and yet the ending is satisfactory after all.

Here's a peek:

Kitten’s First Full Moon has a black and white contrast style of illustration that makes it stand out. Because the story takes place at night, the dark colors are complimentary. The shading used forces you to use your imagination to infer colors among the shadows of the kitten’s journey. The white moon in stark contrast to the dark black sky enhances the moon’s importance throughout the tale.

I really liked this book because it used simple language that is easy for children to understand and contained a lot of repetition. I think this book would be very easy to use to engage Kindergarten students when it comes to a lesson on the moon, or kittens, or just for fun! It’s a quick and easy read to enjoy in a positive picture book experience.