Hare and Kunekune's Moonlight Mission product reviews

Moonlight Mission is a wonderful hardback picture book about a pig called Kunekune (very apt!) and a hare called, well, Hare! Food in the forest is going missing and Kunekune and Hare go to investigate. They meet with Frog and Ruru to find out where all the food is going and the story comes to a heartfelt conclusion.

There are a number of things I loved about this book. Firstly, the feel of the book is lovely and each page is nice and heavy. Although the text is not very large, there is not much text on each page. This means that it is great for younger readers who are trying to get fluent. It would also make a fantastic bedtime book. The author, Laura Shallcrass, is both author and an artist and the illustrations are amazing. There is so much detail, whether it be close-ups of Kunehune and Hare or the forest with drawings of worms and bugs underground. The pages are predominately blue and brown with pops of colour that make the illustrations stand out. One of my 8-year-old students loved finding the animals hidden in the background.

Moonlight Mission had a distinct New Zealand theme with the Kunekune pig and Ruru which was great as the kids could relate to the characters. The message of the book was one of coming together and sharing which is so important nowadays. I really enjoyed reading this book and I have had a great response from students that have read this book with me. Highly recommended!

Having already reviewed two of Laura Shallcrass' books with other young friends, I am familiar with her artwork so was hopeful that this book would reach the same high standards. I was delighted to find that it was just as stunning, and could not wait to share it with two of the children in our family - Mr Two and Miss Three. They are cousins and spend quite a lot of time together, so they were happy to perch on the sofa with me and read it.

We started with the front cover which features the two heroes, Hare and Kunekune, looking straight at the reader. Miss Three recognised that Kunekune might be a pig, but neither of them knew what Hare might be. They have never seen a hare in real life, so I had some explaining to do. What they did understand was that Hare and Kunekune were best friends and would cuddle up together to sleep. "Just like us!" said Miss Three. She has a peach tree in her garden too, so she thought that was a really sensible place for a nap.

During the course of the story the creatures they met included birds, Frog, Ruru, and various flying insects. We had to stop at each page to decide what noise each one would make. The first three were easy, but none of us knew what noise the insects might produce so we settled for a whooshing sound. Reading the book was a slow process as the children had to point to each creature and identify it before making the appropriate sound. Mr Two loved making the sound effects and was much louder than his cousin.

The theme of the story is that of sharing. Both Kunekune and Hare are annoyed that the food supply is dwindling, but it is reassuring that Ruru appears to be on their side and has found a solution for them. At his suggestion, all the creatures arrive with a contribution, whether it be food or just some entertainment, and they all have a big feast together. I thought the story ended a little too abruptly - I would like to have seen a clearer picture of everyone eating together and enjoying one another's company. Mr Two in particular was looking for Frog on the last few pages as that was his favourite. Some of the stylised images were too hard for him to make out.

Overall, the children loved the book. The text was a little too advanced for Mr Two, but Miss Three was able to follow it and she happily explained to her cousin what was going on each time I turned a page. I read the text first and then she took over and analysed it for him, adding comments of her own as she went. It was lovely watching the two of them enjoying the experience. They were so into the reading that we all forgot to take a photograph before they left. Still to be decided is who gets to take the book home to keep!