Grandfather and the Moon

Starred review from March 20, 2017
Canadian writer Lapointe’s affectionate tale, winner of a Governor General’s award, is narrated by a young woman who introduces her grandfather, Adrien. He’s “a man of few words,” left defeated by the death of his wife, Lucille, “like his heart ran out of gas.” He gives his granddaughter a single piece of advice, “Make sure you go and get yourself a degree,” which she hears fondly: “I imagined that one day we’d go and get it together.” Feeling that Adrien will approve of her adventurous spirit, she enters the Who Will Go to the Moon contest and wins, but her short space journey doesn’t go well. No matter; at its end, her grandfather is waiting for her. Although Rogé’s (Haiti, My Country) mixed-media images have an offhand look, his portraits are full of heart: Adrien’s face is lined with care, the granddaughter’s is pensive, and the sense of place is strong. In Tanaka’s unobtrusive translation, Lapointe’s prose is lyrical, meditative, and observant, and, the love between girl and grandfather feels very real, amid the story’s fantastical twists. Ages 10–13.

April 1, 2017
"It's so easy not to notice a man of few words."A girl looks back on her relationship with her grandfather. Already a humble, simple man, Grandfather retreats further inward when the love of his life passes away. He loses interest in the day and its promises, sleeping through bus rides, movies, even his granddaughter's ballet recital. Lapointe builds a portrait of a brokenhearted man and his granddaughter in details, adding depth and nuance to their compelling bond, before shifting the story in an unexpected direction. One day news spreads of a "Who Will Go to the Moon Contest," which captures the curiosity of almost everyone, including the narrator. "I didn't want my life to be one long breath. Warm, and slow." She's chosen to take the fateful trip despite the odds, but her success doesn't stir Grandfather out of his solitude. The big day comes, and she's off to the moon. Yet she feels "an emptiness" once she is in space, where her wandering thoughts inevitably lead her back to Grandfather. Featuring muted colors and distinctly drawn, primarily light-skinned characters, Roge's pictures stir big emotions out of the smallest gestures. Though readers of all ages may find the rather disjointed story bewildering, the author's measured, direct text keeps it all thematically intact, with an ending full of small breakthroughs. An undeniable if imperfect gem. (Graphic novel. 10-13)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 3 Up-In this French Canadian import, gentle and expressive drawings support delicate text that explores loss, coming-of-age, and space travel. A girl gives an elegy of sorts to her grandfather, who retreats into himself when his wife dies but is a steadfast presence in her life. The girl tries to draw him out of his shell when she randomly wins the Who Will Go to the Moon Contest and goes into space. However, she ejects herself before she reaches the moon because of space's great emptiness ("without warning, like it had always been there just waiting for this moment, the silence came in and sat down very close to me"), and falls to Earth, where her grandfather is sleeping in his soap box-shaped car. The pencil drawings on cut paper are done in taupe, violet, brown, and gray, with mustard and red highlights, and are reminiscent of Isabelle Arsenault's work; the few characters are rendered humorously and solemnly by turn. The unusual format is somewhat graphic novel-esque, or like a long picture book for older readers, or like an illustrated poem, similar to Dasha Tolstikova's A Year Without Mom. Existential and cerebral, with spare text that evokes the strong bond of a grandparent/grandchild relationship and the confusing nature of being alive, this book will resonate strongly with readers open to a profound meditation on loss, family, and memory. VERDICT A gorgeous and innovative rumination on grief for collections with adventurous readers.-Lisa Nowlain, Nevada County Community Library, CA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017
Grades 8-11 In whispery words, the narrator of this somber exploration of grief describes her beloved grandfather, a man who nodded off during her ballet recitals, insisted she get a degree, and became sad and withdrawn after the death of his wife. Then the story takes an abrupt turn. The narrator, perhaps in an effort to impress or comfort her grandfather, wins a contest to go to the moon. Roge's spare, gray-toned illustrations, filled with fine-lined shapes in an artfully shaky hand and cut-paper collage, have plenty of open space on which figures gently float. Most striking is the narrator's journey to the moon, in which she's barely a speck on a vast, dark field of sky and paint-splatter stars. This is beautiful, bewitching stuff, but at times so oblique it's confounding, and the formatnot quite a picture book, not quite a graphic novelmakes it difficult to imagine its ideal audience. That said, however, the enigmatic symbolism, poetic language, and evocative artwork may utterly entrance the right reader.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
In lengthy picture-book format, an enigmatic, poetic tale of grief is illustrated with nearly colorless mixed-media drawings. Hoping to impress her grief-mired grandfather after the loss of his wife, a young woman wins a contest to fly to the moon. At first thrilled with the trip, she soon feels empty, ejects herself, and parachutes down to her grandfather's awaiting car. Odd but moving.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)