When the Moon Is Full
A Lunar Year
By Penny Pollock
Illustrated by, Mary Azarian
Little Brown 2001
ISBN 0-316-71317-1 Hardbound
Children's Fiction
Ages 4 - 8

Reviewed by Beverly J. Rowe, MyShelf.Com
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The full moon has always fascinated man, and has been used by many cultures to mark the passage of the months. Native Americans gave each full moon a unique name to reflect the special conditions that occur during that month.

Mary Azarian's exquisite hand painted woodcuts of night life set the stage for Penny Pollock's wonderfully simplistic, lyrical poems. Each of the twelve months is given a double page spread with the name of the month at the top and the Indian name for that full moon directly under it, followed by a unique, lyrical poem telling us what is special about that month. The poems vary in mood and length and have nature as their theme. Each page has a short explanation of how the moon was named; January is the Wolf Moon because "Native Americans believed that wolves became restless in January."

At the end of the book, Pollock answers questions about the moon, giving children new knowledge of the night skies and the facts and legends that have been passed down. This is a marvelous book to be read aloud to young children and treasured to read again and again by early elementary aged children; a great addition to any child's library.