I thought I’d write a short post to mark the fact that today is the 15th Anniversary of the publication of Bringing Down the Moon, the first Mole and Friends book I created with the late Vanessa Cabban.
The book tells the story of a Mole who, enchanted by his first sight of the moon, attempts to bring it down from the sky so that he can possess it. His friends keep explaining that, “It’s not as near as it looks,” but Mole will not give up.
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| One of Vanessa's beautiful illustrations for the book. |
Bringing Down the Moon is my most popular picture book and has been translated into 20 different languages including Frisian and Gaelic. The Dutch edition, translated by Annelies Jorna, was awarded the prestigious Kiekeboekprijs award for the best pre-school book published in the Netherlands in 2003.
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| llustrator Vanessa Cabban and I met for the first time when we went to the Netherlands to pick up the Kiekeboekprijs in 2003 |
The book has been adapted into a Dutch puppet show, an animated DVD, an iPhone app and a terrific stage show by the Peaceful Lion theatre company in 2012
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| Henry Wyrley-Birch as Mole, John Boylan as Hedgehog and Fleur Jeffery as Squirrel in Peaceful Lion's stage adaptation. Photo: Pamela Raith. |
Mole proved to be such a popular character that Vanessa and I created four more Mole and Friends books before she passed away in 2014.
In the final book in the series, Mole finds a new friend, Mouse. My favourite spread in this last book is the one below, the final panel of which shows Mole showing Mouse the moon in the night sky, echoing his first sighting in Bringing Down the Moon.
Although some of the books are currently unavaialable, I’m delighted to announce that Walker Books will be publishing new editions of the whole series in 2017. The publication dates are shown below.
Bringing Down the Moon • 2 February 2017
No Place Like Home • 2 February 2017
A Secret Worth Sharing • 1 June 2017
The Best Gift of All • 1 June 2017
Diamond in the Snow • 2 November 2017
Find out more about Bringing Down the Moon on my website
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