Kitten's First Full Moon, by Kevin Henkes

This is a story of a kitten who, on seeing the moon for the first time, thinks that it’s a bowl of milk and tries to reach it – with unfortunate results. Luckily, someone is watching out for her, and when she heads home, she finds what she was looking for all along.

Henkes uses the black/white/gray color palette of this book to great effect. It’s unusual for a children’s book not to have brightly colored illustrations, but Henkes’ choice emphasizes how very different the world looks by moonlight – explaining the allure that a moonlit night might have for adventurous kittens (or kids). The endsheets, with rows and columns of moons, are a nice touch.

Kitten (who doesn’t have any other name) is less anthropomorphized than the animal characters in many of Henkes’ other books, like Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse. Kitten doesn’t talk or wear clothes, she walks on all fours, and she acts mostly like a real kitten. (Henkes accurately describes behavior like the butt-wiggle kittens do right before they pounce.)

But regular Henkes touches remain, like the “shocked” facial expression familiar to readers who’ve seen the cover of Wimberley Worried. That look is bound to make kids grin (especially when Kitten accidentally licks a bug). Kitten is also a courageous heroine in the vein of Lily and Chrysanthemum, willing to confront all obstacles to try to get her milk.

A minor quibble: a real kitten experiencing her first full moon (or even her first full moon with her eyes open) would be way too young to do most of the things Kitten does. But that’s not a big enough problem to harm the story – and “Kitten’s fifth full moon” doesn’t have nearly the same ring to it.

Wendy Lukehart, writing in School Library Journal, calls this “an irresistable offering from the multifaceted Henkes…. The rhythmic text and delightful artwork ensure storytime success. Kids will surely applaud this cat's irrepressible spirit. Pair this tale with Frank Asch's classic Moongame (S & S, 1987) and Nancy Elizabeth Wallace's The Sun, the Moon and the Stars (Houghton, 2003) for nocturnal celebrations.”

I might use this book in an activity of “all-one-color books,” along with Get Red! An Adventure in Color by Tony Porto and graphic-design firm 3CD, and Priscilla and the Pink Planet by Jocelyn and Nathanial Hobbie. I’d let the children choose a color and make their own all-one-color books to take home.


Henkes, Kevin. 2004. Kitten's First Full Moon. Ill. by Kevin Henkes. New
York: Greenwillow ISBN 978-0060588281.

Lukehart, Wendy, “Kitten’s First Full Moon,” School Library Journal, qtd. in
Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Kittens-First-Full-Kevin
Henkes/dp/0060588284/sr=1-1/qid=1168989008/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103
0423122-5982232?ie=UTF8&s=books (January16,2007).