PB 14:14 Day Nine/Moonlight

  

Title: Moonlight

Author: Helen Griffith

Illustrator: Laura Dronzek

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Year: 2012

Word Count: Approx. 100

Summary: One cloudy night, after Rabbit goes into his burrow to sleep, the moon comes out, covering the countryside like butter and awakening Rabbit to come out and dance.

Moonlight is a beautiful rhyming picture book, but today I want to focus on the element of Word Play for my PB 14:14 blog challenge post. Moonlight is the perfect bedtime book with its dreamy illustrations and sweet, lyrical text. Here’s the opening line:

Rabbit hides in shadow

under cloudy skies

waiting for the moonlight

blinking sleepy eyes…

Isn’t that lovely?

Word Play is incorporated into the book through the use of Simile and Personification. Check out this exquisite line (my favorite in the whole book), in which the moonlight is compared to butter (Simile):

Moonlight slides like butter

skims through outer space

skids past stars and comets

leaves a butter trace…

We also get descriptive words that describe the moonlight’s actions as it makes its way to Rabbits burrow. These words make it seem like the moonlight is another character in the story (Personification):

slides (like butter)

skims (through outer space)

skids (past star and comets)

skips (along the mountainside)

sucks (at twigs and branches)

butters

skitters

slips

seeps

spatters

shakes

Moonlight is a stunning book and I highly recommend picking up a copy for yourself. Maybe you will find other elements of Word Play that I missed.