龙月

by Graeme Base, 陈颖

该书的故事受到中国传统故事“鲤鱼跃龙门”的启发，画面运用了众多中国元素的视觉素材，讲述了一个关于小鱼孤儿找寻自我、化身成龙并拯救家园的故事。

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy

24 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

Graeme Rowland Base is a British-Australian author and artist of picture books. He is perhaps best known for his second book, Animalia published in 1986, and third book The Eleventh Hour which was released in 1989.

Reviews

[Donna]

Visual storytelling at its best. Be prepared to lose … no, make that invest, a lot of time reading this enchanting fable.

[Jill Smith]

A magnificent picture book with images that transport the reader to a magical world.

The creative tale of an orphan outcast fish finding a home, and travels to find where he belongs.

This could be a Chinese fable.

[Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine)]

Author and Illustrator: Graeme Base
Age Recommendation: Pre-School/Kinder
Topic/ Theme: Sense of self, mythological
Setting: Somewhat ambiguous Asia

I see Graeme Base I haven't read before I borrow it from the library asap. 👀😍 Moonfish does not disappoint.

It's stunningly beautiful and works with what appears to be an East Asian mythological base (likely not Chinese, Chang'E their lunar deity has one of the loveliest origin stories). It doesn't look like it's based directly on any myth but it certainly feels inspired by that in the architecture and lore. This is a story about finding home, finding out who you are and who you are meant to be. All with wonderful fish visuals and so many details and variations in the fish and their settings. The titular Moonfish does at some point go on walkabout, that section has a lot of diversity in the areas we see. The choice to have a parchment-like colouring under the text was a good one, it increases readability and increases consistency across the pages. I do like the slightly larger format too, it allows for better viewing of the images.

And this is yet another book I want to see the original art for. I know where at least some of them are held and occasionally displayed. If you ever get the opportunity to see Graeme Base's art in person it is very much worth it.

[Aldi]

What a wonderfully weird and vibrant world! So much detail, and some of it has something almost unsettling about it, in an interesting way.

(No, I'm not last-minute stuffing my yearly read count with picture books, but they're sitting right there on the coffee table - what am I supposed to do, not read a book that exists in my line of sight??)

[Lara Bate]

Moonfish is a story of a fish who gets adopted into another family. The other fish tease him because he is so different so he ends up leaving. He then comes back and scares away the birds. It has Japanese influences in the book e.g., temple and trees.

[Samantha Johnson]

Loved it! Such a beautiful story.

Graeme's illustrations are so unique!

This story taught me that just because you don't fit in, doesn't mean you don't belong.
As well as; you never know your true strength unless you are being tested.

[Sean Harding]

Base Jump #8
Some sort of riff on ugly duckling mixed with mythology around this moonfish,
And then a really rushed ending without giving us more details we really wanted and needed.
A good basis for a story that was not told to us.

[Maree Silver]

Gorgeous illustrations as usual, illustrating a Chinese version of a story similar to The Ugly Duckling.

[Dimity Powell]

Exquisite.

[Dwayne Thomas]

Graeme Base’s excellent illustrations as always & a great story to follow.

[Kate]

Visually beautiful

[Jade]

A Chinese-inspired, ugly duckling story but with fish, featuring Base's usual gorgeous art.

[AD]

My favourite Graeme Base book so far (and there are a lot to choose from!).
The illustrations are magical, and the theme of belonging is uniquely explored in this wonderful picture book.

[Shane]

Gorgeous as usual, with an interesting imagining of Chinese landscapes in an underwater setting. Themes of belonging are explored in this take on the Ugly Duckling tale.

[Daisy]

Loved this “ugly duckling” story. Touching!

[Lync Lync]

Brilliant complex artwork as always, with an enchanting fable to go with it.