LONG NIGHT MOON

LONG NIGHT MOON by Cynthia Rylant. Illustrated by Mark Siegel

Forgive me a bit for bombarding you, but I have been saving back this book to use at the start of the New Year and then continue with it each month through 2024.

 Did you know that each full moon has a name given by the Native Americans? I was fascinated by this fact last year and began watching on Facebook for almanac posts that would share the name of the upcoming full moon. I truly loved it.

While on our way home from vacation, I came across this book, Long Night Moon by Cynthia Rylant, at the Tamarack in Beckley, WV. (I am going to put a plug in here that if you ever are close to this place, go there! It is a showcase for WV artisans and is amazing!) Anyway, Newberry Medal winner, Cynthia Rylant was born in WV, so the Tamarack has several of her books. In this beautiful picture book, Rylant takes us through the months and introduces us to the name of each full moon.

So how am I going to use this? First of all, don't feel the pressure to do a single one of these possibilities! If your homeschool day is full and you just want to read the picture book to your kids, don't feel the need to add anything else! I am going to start by reading the book out loud to my kids in the next few days. Then we're going to focus on the name of the January moon. When we Google names of the January moon are there more than one given? Next, I plan on giving them blank calendar pages where we can track the phases of the moon each month. We'll also read a bit on the moon. I'll share more books about the moon later as this mini study grows!

By the way, be sure and read The Adventure of Illustrating Long Night Moon at the back of the book. Mark Siegel shares how he settled on how to do the beautiful artwork in this book.