About the Book:
Little Suhaila wishes she could have known her grandma, who would wrap her arms around the whole world if she could, Mama says. And one night, Suhaila gets her wish when a golden ladder appears at her window, and Grandma Annie invites the girl to come along with her on a magical journey. In a rich and deeply personal narrative, Maya Soetoro-Ng draws inspiration from her mother’s love for family, her empathy for others, and her ethic of service to imagine this remarkable meeting. Evoking fantasy and folklore, the story touches on events that have affected people across the world in our time and reaffirms our common humanity. Yuyi Morales’s breathtaking artwork illuminates the dreamlike tale, reminding us that loved ones lost are always with us, and that sometimes we need only look at the moon and remember.
About the Author:
Maya Soetoro-Ng was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is a writer and educator with a PhD in international comparative education. She says Ladder to the Moon, her first picture book, was inspired by her young daughter Suhaila’s questions about her grandmother Ann Dunham, the mother of Maya and of our forty-fourth president, Barack Obama.
About the Illustrator:
Yuyi Morales is the illustrator of Kathleen Krull’s Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, whose accolades include a Pura Belpré Award and a Christopher Medal, as well as the Pura Belpré Award-winning Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes. Born and raised in Mexico, she now lives in northern California.
My Opinion:
This is a very allegorical tale of a young girl asking about her grandmother as she heads to sleep and then having a dream about her grandmother taking her to the moon on a golden ladder where the little girl learns the meaning of helping others.
It’s a beautiful concept and the illustrations are gorgeous; sweeping and colorful and sure to catch a young person’s eye. I just did not find the story as compelling as the illustrations. I tend to be a very literal person and too much allegory leaves me with a huge question mark over my head. It was only after I read the author’s note at the back of the book that I fully understood the story – and this is a child’s book.
Maybe it’s me.
I just would not be able to effectively read this to a child because I wouldn’t be able to answer the questions that came. But it is beautiful to view.
Disclosure: I received a gratis copy of Ladder to the Moon through my relationship with The Clever Girls Collective. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.
