Abel's Moon

.If your name was Abel Grable and your wife's name was Mabel you too would have to get away every now and then."Abel's Moon" is set sometime in the 1950's going by the clothes the characters wear. Abel has to leave his family and travel to find work. They are not a prosperous family, the front gate squeaks and the garden is overgrown. There is no TV or video games in this house. Instead they sit around the fire and tell stories. Somehow they look happy!There are 3 children Adam, Noah and baby Ben, and of course Skipper the dog. The boys know how to entertain themselves, such as playing at being wild animals. Mabel and Ben love dancing to the music on the radio. When Abel is back home he tries to write up the stories of his travels but the noise from the family is too much. He has to go out into the garden to get some peace and quiet in order to work.Abel's stories about his adventures are full of tales about monkey's swinging through trees, crocodiles in muddy swamps and travelling on riverboats to remote places.Once again it was time for Abel to set out to find work. The boys missed their Dad very much.The boys turn the old writing table that Dad had used out in the garden into a camp. They are sure they can hear monkeys in the trees. They then turn the table upside down to make a pretend boat. They paddled it through muddy crocodile infested swamps with only the moon to guide them.Adam one day decided that the writing table could be turned into a moon machine with the addition of few planks of wood to make some propellers. Under the light of the full moon Adam looked out at the moon machine in his garden.Adam had a remarkable and profound thought. " He knew that the moon was shining down on him, and Abel too. It shone down on all the people who loved each other and couldn't always be together, beaming down on each and every one, no matter how far away they were".With his strong sense of imagination Adam planned that one night soon, he and Noah (and Skipper if he behaved himself) would take off in the moon machine, and drop in on Dad, wherever he was. Soon Abel would be back home with his family. The boys would then tell Abel all about THEIR adventures.You get the message that Abel's sons have just as strong sense of imagination as their father does. You guess his crocodile stories may be just as real as Adam's trips in his moon machine. "Abel's Moon" is a delightful story. The illustrations capture the era and the atmosphere perfectly.

Adam and Noah miss their dad, Abel, when he travels on business. He writes down his travel stories for the family to read while he is away on his next trip. Adam feels connected to his dad when he sees the moon shine because it also shines on his father. Adam and Noah make a moon machine in the back yard and pretend they will fly to their dad and visit him. They plan to share their adventures with Dad on his return. The illustrations depict loving family scenes.

This is a wonderful story about a man who returns home to his family after traveling, guided by the moon. The story is creative, and touching, as the children feel closer to their father when they can look up and see the moon. The educational superb too, since it is a good introduction to what the moon is and why it looks the way it does in the sky.