Life on the Moon

by Matthew Swanson

The extraordinary tale of a curious boy sent to live on the moon, the wondrous discoveries he makes, and the courage it takes to speak a truth no one wants to believe.

The first rule of life on the moon There is no life on the moon.
The second rule Don't ask questions.

12-year-old Leo gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the very first Moon colony. He’s excited to be part of the top-secret mission, but things quickly go off the rails. Right after his family lands on the Moon, Leo’s dad is called off on an urgent mission from which he never returns. The authorities claim the mission never existed, and Leo’s dad is accused of desertion.

Leo goes looking for his dad and discovers far more than he bargained for. Everyone in the colony insists there’s NO life on the Moon. But Leo’s explorations reveal a landscape brimming with extraordinary creatures—with baffling behaviors and beliefs.

Leo’s big question why keep Moon life a secret? Who stands to gain? And how can he find a way to save his new Moon friends before the lie becomes a reality?

Audible Audio

Published April 14, 2026

About the author

Matthew Swanson (and his wife Robbi Behr) are author and illustrator of the critically acclaimed Cookie Chronicles series, The Real McCoys trilogy, and the picture books Sunrise Summer, Babies Ruin Everything, and Everywhere, Wonder. When not advocating for local schools, giving talks on creative entrepreneurship, or running a summer salmon fishing operation on the Alaskan tundra, we live in an old barn on the Eastern Shore of Maryland—making books and raising our four kids.

Matthew and Robbi will spend the 2022-2023 school year crisscrossing the United States in a school bus/tiny home with our four kids, visiting underserved elementary schools in all 50 states (plus DC), and giving away 25,000 free hardcover books to students and teachers from low-income communities. To learn more about the Busload of Books tour, go to: www.busloadofbooks.com.

Reviews

[YSBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Swanson drops us in media res on the Moon with 12-year-old Leo Brightstar (white), who’s grappling with his parents’ divorce and being sent to Lunar Colony #10, accompanied by his dad and his dad’s new girlfriend, Sally. We’re just as confused as Leo, who quickly loses track of the custodial couple and ends up in Moon School, where he learns the colony’s nonsensical rules: “There’s no life on the Moon”, “Don’t ask questions”, and “There are no technical difficulties.” An all-powerful Constable closely monitors the residents, although the presence of a mysterious and possibly subversive female deputy (Black) seems to indicate there’s room for ambiguity.  Leo then sets off in a talking robotic rover on a quest to find his dad and soon discovers that the Moon teems with life forms. He befriends a cute, tentacled, blue Valrooten named Mitchell, who teaches Leo about the impact the arrival of humans has had on lunar life. Swanson has created a gently humorous but complex story that’s part science fiction adventure, part realistic fiction about divorce and loneliness, and part metaphorical fable about both irrational authoritarianism and the human drive to colonize. A cover blurb from Jasmine Warga (A Rover's Story) compares this book to The Phantom Tollbooth and Leo's goofy road trip definitely recalls the drive through the perplexing Kingdom of Wisdom. Like Milo, Leo can’t see the big picture because mismanagement and deceit by the colony's adults confuse everything he experiences. And as in Juster’s classic, the childlike clarity of Leo’s heart is what ultimately saves the day.

At over 300 pages, Life on the Moon is long for its target audience, but Robbi Bear’s elegant, immersive illustrations make it feel much shorter. Those who have enjoyed Swanson and Benson’s other collaborations (The Cookie Chronicles, The Real McCoys) will recognize her trademark digital drawings, which recall pen-and-ink. The black, white, and gray artwork works particularly well on the Moon, with its inky black sky and white, boulder-strewn surface. Swanson vividly works descriptive color into his text (the blue Valrootens, the snappy red Rovers, the golden hairballs that imprison Leo’s dad and Sally), giving readers the opportunity to imagine the book’s monochromatic pages awash with pigment. In addition, the illustrations will help young readers make sense of the occasionally baroque plot, especially toward the end as Leo uncovers the truth and must take responsibility for safeguarding life on the Moon. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Katie Reilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though the book is now published, comments are based on an advanced reader copy.

This highly-illustrated middle grade novel follows 12 year old Leo as he and his dad embark on a journey to be part of the first colony established on the Moon. But things are rocky as soon as they land. His dad is sent on an urgent mission and doesn’t return, so Leo “borrows” a rover to go search for him. And even though everyone insists there’s no such thing as life on the Moon, Leo meets creatures like Valrootens, a Hortle, Scagwins, and a Woggler as he travels the Moon’s surface.

Full of adventure, outer space wonderings, the heart of a lonely kid feeling the results of a friendship that’s run its course AND his parents’ divorce, and plenty of laugh out loud moments, this one lands so well!

Favorite lines:

ARC page 156:
“Each of us knows exactly what we know, “ said Mitchell 2. “It sounds like ‘smart’ is a matter of whether the things you know are useful in whatever room you happen to be in.“

ARC page 201:
“… We often make unfounded assumptions based unlimited knowledge and then use them to advance our own agenda while derailing the lives of others.“

ARC page 225:
Maybe this was the one big thing that drew humans together and kept them apart, the impossibility of ever fully understanding each other. No matter how close they stood or how much they had in common.
No matter how hard they tried.

ARC page 247:
Leo didn’t get to decide what any of them did or said or who they loved or what they were afraid of. He couldn’t expect them to be anything other than exactly who they were.
Leo was in charge of what he said. What he believed. What he did. That was a much more manageable job.

ARC page 266:
The Deputy reached out and took Leo’s hand. “In my experience, kids are hopeful and clever. Brave and surprisingly capable.”

ARC page 289:
The Deputy laughed sadly. “This is what humans do, Leo. We talk about our successes and sweep the failures quietly away. Everything you know is the story of people in charge.”
Leo thought about that. Maybe stories were another kind of door, ones that locked truth where people couldn’t reach it. Maybe it was his job to open those doors, too.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The creative team behind The Cookie Chronicles returns with a tale that is out of this world but also OF this world. While the beginning of the story [3.5 for me!] is somewhat confusing, readers who stick with the story will eventually be blown away by its profundity and relevance to the world's current state of affairs. Twelve-year-old Leo Brightstar is on a mission, but he's not clear exactly what it entails and how he will go about completing it. He's part of a voyage to the Moon and trying to find his father. Even though he's been assured that there is no life on the Moon, he finds this not to be the case as he meets Valrootens, Scagwins, and a Woggler, all of whose existence is intertwined. As Leo faces various hard choices, he remains troubled by his parents' separation or divorce and his father's new romantic relationship. As the narrative moves to its conclusion, the book's focus on caring for ourselves, others, and the planet we call home and the difficulty in making hard, almost impossible, choices become even clearer. It's impossible to read this one and not feel moved or changed in some way.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

We were big fans of Ben Yokoyama so we had to read this one.

If you kids enjoy space stories, mysteries to solve and adventures, then they will be glad to read it.