Moomin and the Moonlight Adventure by Tove Jansson

Age Range: 3 to 5

I loved the Moomin books as a child and it is great to be able to share picture book versions of the story with my daughter. The Moomins are very loveable characters and I find Little My’s expression hilarious (my daughter isn’t sure why Little My is part of the story as ‘she is a girl’ but Little My is the first character that she looks for on each page!). The language in the story has been simplified for the picture book reader and the illustrations are bold and appealing to small children. My daughter is at the stage of wanting to ‘read’ books back to me and the illustrations are so simple that they help her to do that. I hope that one day we will still read the original Moomin chapter books together but the picture books are a great way to introduce Moominvalley and all the characters.

The Story: Moomintroll wakes up one morning and decides that it is the perfect day for a trip to Lonely Island to find treasure. By the time everybody is ready the sun has gone down so they set sail in the moonlight. The Snork Maiden thinks she sees something beneath the waves so Moomin dives in for a look. Moomin’s bravery and the treasure he finds is the talk of the trip and they end their adventure sat round the campfire on Lonely Island.

Author / Illustrator: Tove Jansson