In the first book of a multibook series, find out how a round, jolly baby became the great white hope of the Milky Way--and ringleader of the Guardians of Childhood.

Up there in the sky.
Don't you see him?
No, not the moon.
The Man in the Moon.
He wasn't always a man.
Nor was he always on the moon.
He was once a child.
Like you.
Until a battle,
a shooting star,
and a lost balloon
sent him on a quest.
Meet the very first guardian of childhood.
MiM, the Man in the Moon.

Jaw-dropping layout and illustrations. ( )

This book might not be the classic children’s story that it set out to be, but it’s definitely a solid effort and I’m sure that it will be enjoyed alongside the popular film that’s set in the same universe. In the film, readers are thrown into the world of the Guardians of Childhood, but this book takes us back to their origins with the Man in the Moon. The orphaned child who comes to live in our terrestrial moon looks down over the world and sees that the children of Earth are plagued by the same nightmares that are strewn by the creature who killed his parents, so he recruits a myriad of fairytale creatures to defend childhood. The book seems straightforward enough, but the story was a bit meandering from what I expect from children’s books (even those which are marketed as being more complex). We are first presented with the (then little) Man in the Moon’s family, who are fleeing from the creature responsible for nightmares, which leads up to a battle which is not so much pictured or described but implied, since MiM does not participate. This conflict is clearly a bit on the violent side, but in these types of children’s books (I’m looking to Peter Pan for comparison here) a bit of violence is expected and not untoward to further the plot properly. After the dust has cleared MiM is left on the moon (his family’s ship transformed) circling Earth, and as he grows up he becomes the leader of the group who we know as the Guardians of Childhood. The story may have been slightly lacking in flow, but I rather like the idea of it enough to continue reading the next stories in the series. ( )

A fun book, with lovely illustrations. ( )

Fantasy:
Review: The Mim was sent away by his parents to protect him from darkness. He lands on the moon and turns it into protection for the children on Earth.
Critique: This is a great fantasy because lots of children are afraid of the dark and this provides a way for them to feel protection. It is also a great fantasy because it associates this character to well-known characters of children's fantasies. ( )