The Moon Moved In
by Sue Soltis; illus. by Sonia Sánchez
Primary    Chronicle    48 pp.
7/25    9781452180717    $17.99

A girl named Stella looks out her window to the house next door with a for-sale sign on the front lawn. After the sign tips over, curiously, the moon moves into the empty house. Stella introduces herself, and the two become friends. The moon explains it has only one interest: gardening. “I came here to grow things. I was just sitting around in space!…Besides, up there, there’s not even a blade of grass to talk to.” However, its disappearance from the sky brings disasters such as “sea turtles getting lost on their way to the ocean.” After reporters track down the moon, Stella convinces it to, finally, return home. There is a happy ending when a new family with a little girl, enticed by the moon’s verdant garden, moves in next door and the moon still, occasionally, comes to visit the garden at night. Soltis’s magical telling of a brief friendship intertwines with a celebration of nature. Sánchez’s digital illustrations create a world where day and night are equally captivating. The face of the moon is especially expressive in this imaginative story. Endpapers provide factual information about the moon and its impact on our planet.

From the September/October 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.