THANK YOU, MOON

A tribute to our only natural satellite, with atmospheric moonlit illustrations of nocturnal creatures.

In a series of thank-yous paired with brief notes on nature, Stewart points to the influence of the moon on wildlife—how it helps hunting lions when thinned to a crescent and their grazing prey when full, signals kangaroo rats to hide in the shadows and zooplankton to head for the sea’s darker depths when bright, and lights the way for black-headed night monkeys and hatchling leatherback turtles. The moon even triggers coral to spawn. Stewart claims that, in the only known instance of direct lunar influence on a plant’s life cycle, the moon stimulates joint pines to exude a sticky sap to draw pollinators when it’s full in July. She also invites readers to celebrate the moon’s beauty, along with a brown-skinned child who brackets Lanan’s shimmering nighttime scenes of wildlife in natural settings, “night after night, // and, sometimes, surprising us in the daytime, too.” This quietly appreciative survey is capped with a schematic explanation of lunar phases and further information about the moonlit flora and fauna readers have met earlier. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Lyrical and informative.