Monsters Are Afraid of the Moon by Marjane Satrapi, Marjane Satrapi (Illustrator), Jill Davis (Translator)

From the Publisher

Poor Marie! Every night as she climbed into bed, she got a visit from three monsters. They only came out in darkness, so she knew they must be afraid of the light. Marie took a huge pair of scissors, and cutting the moon out of the sky, hung it right in her bedroom. No darkness, no monsters!
Her plan worked perfectly, or so she thought . . . but without a moon in the sky, the village cats were in total darkness! They began bumping into everything, and winding up in the hospital. With no cats to chase them, the mice ran amuck. Finally the king found Marie: “You must return the moon to the sky!” he said. But Marie wouldn’t agree--not until she was sure those monsters were gone. How could the king make things right for everyone? A delightful tall tale for bedtime or anytime.

Children's Literature

Marie has fun all day, but the nights are another story. For then, "three of the scariest monsters who ever lived would come out from the shadows" to torture her. One night, Marie decides that the night monsters must be afraid of the light. She decides to bring the moon, which lights up the night, into her room. After she cuts it out of the sky and puts it in a cage over her bed, the monsters no longer bother her. But with the moon missing, cats all over the village have accidents in the dark, while the rascally rats begin to ruin the town. The Cat King negotiates with Marie. For the release of the moon, Marie receives a cat to guard her bed every night. The charming, imaginative story finds appropriate accompaniment in the very simple illustrations that need few details. Black outlines amusingly depict Marie, the melancholy felines, and the happily cavorting rats. The Cat King is properly regal; the three monsters are a multicolored trio of grimacing bullies whose sharply pointed shadows are menacing. The final picture is a peaceful view of a sleeping Marie and a cat with a watching eye open, and the moon back in the sky.

School Library Journal

PreS-Young Marie is afraid of the monsters that appear in her room each night. Her ingenious solution is to snip the moon out of the sky and keep it in her room since, as everyone knows, monsters are afraid of the light. Unfortunately, this idea causes havoc with the village cats, who demand their moon back. Luckily, the Cat King arrives at a solution that satisfies everyone's needs, but readers may not feel so rewarded. While the bold, colorful cartoon illustrations and the simple text are accessible and inviting, the story lacks logic. The notion of a city populated by anthropomorphic cats is charming but seems startling given that Marie is a human girl, and no further exposition is given. The ending will make readers smile but it feels like the conclusion of a folktale without an introduction. Overall, the story has many appealing points, but its structure and narrative feel patchy and incomplete. The book is brightened by Satrapi's illustrations, which are a vibrant treat. The use of eye-popping colors and nuanced expressions make the monsters just a little bit intimidating but not overly frightening.-Tamara E. Richman, Somerset County Library System, Bridgewater, NJ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Strongly drawn, vividly colored figures with large, expressive eyes light up this simple tale of a child who discovers that her solution to a personal problem has wider consequences. When Marie clips the moon from the sky to repel the monsters that bother her at night, the hospitals begin to fill with cats that have injured themselves in the dark, and rats run amok. But as monsters, it turns out, are afraid of cats too, the King of the Cats proposes a trade, and peace is soon restored. Marie is portrayed as a child who likes to pick cherries, play with her kitty, read funny stories and draw pictures of bunnies; this tale, the first English version of an early story from the author of the Persepolis graphic novels, will irresistibly draw an audience of the same ilk. (Picture book. 5-8)

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