Books like Many Moons
By James Thurber
For the kid who asks impossible questions and expects real answers, Many Moons rewards that kind of thinking instead of brushing it off. Whimsical, dry, gently funny — a fairy tale that trusts kids to get the joke.
A child imagines an entire day as a horse — galloping through familiar settings, wondering if they'd fit in their clothes, and whether a little sister would get a ride.
A boy wakes up one morning shrunk to the size of a mouse, and has to handle everyday chores — making his bed, brushing his teeth, watching his baby brother — at a tiny scale, cat included.
A little girl wakes up one Thursday with a full set of antlers growing out of her head, and while the doctor and school principal panic, the cook and kitchen maid find surprising uses for them.
A young girl visits her eccentric grandfather, where nothing is normal — tea comes in flower pots, and cleaning the house means mowing the rug.
While the Petersons are away, their house decides it deserves a vacation too — but its rooms can't agree on a destination until the sunporch votes for the beach and leads the way.
Six classic fairy tales get turned inside out in rhyme, as Cinderella, Snow-White, Little Red Riding Hood and others swap their storybook endings for wickedly unexpected ones.
A cheerful little woman chases a runaway rice dumpling deep underground, where she falls into the clutches of a wicked three-eyed oni and must use her wits to escape.
A crew of pirates returns to Jeremy Jacob's backyard to dig up their buried treasure, but first they must quiet his wailing baby sister, Bonney Anne, whom they accidentally woke up.
A student gets stuck with a science curse after his teacher claims poetry is everywhere in science, and suddenly every rhyme in his head turns into a poem about amoebas, black holes, or the food chain.
A little red chicken just can't sit still through bedtime stories, jumping into Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood to save the characters herself, much to her patient papa's dismay.
A curious kid wonders why snowmen look different every morning — crooked grins, shifted arms — and imagines the wild games they must be sneaking off to play all night long.
A young witch's child faces the Blue Witch, who threatens to turn her into a turtle unless she comes along — but Dorrie fights back with reducing powder and shrinks the villain down to size.
