If I Were The Moon is a gentle lullaby that is sure to engage and delight young readers. It's a wonderful treat for fans of Sheree Fitch, whose books include rambunctious and humorous favourites like There Were Monkeys In My Kitchen, Mabel Murple, and There's A Mouse In My House!, and is a terrific way to introduce her books to new readers.

If I were the moon

I'd shine down my light

Right into your bedroom

To warm up the night.

This is a great bedtime book. Fitch's verse has a soft and reassuring resonance that beautifully captures that perfect moment when a child is tucked up in bed, spellbound by the voice of an older sibling or an adult sharing a special book with him or her. We follow a young girl into her imagination where she becomes an ocean, a tree, a flower, a snowflake-fantasy worlds that she openly and joyously wants to share with the listener. It's a book full of action and movement-dancing, sliding, sailing, climbing-but it is, at the same time, a book that is soft, peaceful even.

The illustrations by Leslie Elizabeth Watts thoughtfully mirror Fitch's lyrical text and add magic and colour to the world Fitch invites us to share. Watts, who illustrated Fitch's last book, There's A Mouse In My House!, uses a very different style here to create the soft and gentle illustrations that light up If I Were The Moon. This book has a radiant glow to it; Watts' colours are bright, warm, and inviting, and will tempt the reader and listener to explore them again and again.

If I Were The Moon is a welcome addition to Canadian books for bedtime reading, joining Teddy Jam's Night Cars, This New Baby, and Kady MacDonald Denton's A Children's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. It's sure to be called for by delighted young readers again and again and again.