The Little Old Man Who Looked Up at The Moon by Pamela Allen
I must confess, that I love Pamela Allen’s picture books. I have grown up with them, I used them in my teaching and now I read them to my son. I love her simple and beautiful illustrations that are classic and timeless. The Little Old Man Who Looked Up at The Moon is no exception.
“Once upon a time…”
These four words create a fairy tale-like beginning, setting the scene for a story that whilst philosophical and quite a heavy subject matter, is brimming with childhood innocence and acceptance.
A little old man and his wife sit together in the cool night air. The little old man looks up at the sky and ponders life’s unanswered questions:
“Where do we come from, and why are we here?”
The little old woman sets out on a journey to find the answers to her husband’s questions. Along the way, she asks some unlikely characters like the rooster who answers her question with a “Cock-a-doodle doo” – probably not the answer she was expecting and so her journey continues.
“Does the sky go on forever and ever?”
“Where do we come from?”
As parents, we are all asked questions like these ones – ones that we don’t have the answers for or don’t know how to answer. What we don’t realise all of the time though is that we don’t need to have all the answers. One of the most important lessons we can ‘teach’ our children is the ability to use various tools and mediums available to find out their own answers. And so is the underlying message of this beautiful Pamela Allen book.
This is a tale of a loving relationship, one of happiness and supporting each other. The predictability and repetition of language in this story make it an enjoyable (and as we found a very funny) story to read on its own or it can be used to engage in thought provoking discussion with children.
Book Details:
Author: Pamela Allen
Illustrator: Pamela Allen
ISBN: 978 0 670 075812
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Viking/Penguin , January, 2012
Suitable for ages: 4-7
