MOLLY'S MOON MISSION

Molly the moth goes where no moth has gone before.

The back of a closet is too small to hold Molly’s yen for adventure, and so she dons a paper helmet and blasts off past her skeptical mom toward that bright light in the sky—which turns out to be a light bulb. “The moon is much bigger and much further away,” says a fly. “Too far for a little mite like you.” Oh yeah? Onward and upward! Past the street light and its equally discouraging spider, past the dizzying lighthouse, all the way to the “biggest, brightest, farthest light she could see” in the night sky. That would indeed be the moon…where she helps two astronauts (one white, one a person of color) gather samples and make dust angels. In return they give Molly both a lift home and a genuine mission patch. In his illustrations, Beedie goes for cuteness over verisimilitude by outfitting his insect astronaut with long lashes, a hair bow, and wings that look more decorative than functional. Readers accustomed to the dismissiveness of their elders will cheer as, despite all distractions Molly achieves her goal at last, triumphantly taking that one small step. She takes the next step too, going on in a final scene, after her mom (who also rises to the occasion) proudly welcomes her back, to prepare her younger sibs for flights of their own.

What better role model than a bug with the right stuff to make her dreams come true?