With a few carefully chosen words, deftly paced to set a tranquil tone, Peter McCarty describes a young boy’s imaginary flight to the moon and back. Seeing a plane overhead, the boy wonders what it would be like to be on board. He pictures flying over a land-bound car, train, and boat. Unlimited by physical boundaries, he even contemplates traveling to the moon, where he “would take a few steps, jump . . . / . . . and fly just like the airplane.” After his journey, he knows he can return home to his waiting mother, and to his bed, where he will dream again of flying above the earth. Listeners are carried along on the speculative journey, drawn in by the sense of wonder and possibility as they accompany the child on wanderings that are anchored by the security of home. Shades of gray and misty-colored pencil drawings, set against ivory-colored pages, perfectly complement the artful narrative’s dreamy mood. Winner, 2007 Charlotte Zolotow Award (Ages 3–6)

Can airplanes fly to the moon? This one can!

Above the clouds an airplane flies into the sky.
On the ground a small boy looks up.

A young boy sees a plane overhead and imagines himself in it, traveling all the way to the moon. What does he see on his way? With characteristically spare prose, Caldecott Honor winner Peter McCarty invites readers along for an imaginary trip from the earth to the moon and back again, visiting trains, planes, and boats along the way. McCarty's luminous illustrations make the boy's fantasy into a dreamlike journey that ends in his mother's arms—a perfect way to end the day.

Moon Plane is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.