Book review: Sing to the Moon Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl and illustrated by Sandra van Doorn.

Sing to the Moon is published by Lantana Publishing who are an independent publishing company that publish diverse reads including this heartwarming tale. Written by Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl and illustrated by Sandra Van Doorn, they are a brilliant pairing who both created the book Sleep Well, Siba & Saba which we found in our library and that too is a lovely read.

Once I knew that Sing to the Moon included a grandfather and grandson I knew I had to see what the book was all about. Grandparents are such precious souls. My daughters have such a lovely relationship with my dad who they call Nanna. We all enjoy reading about books that share this lovely relationship and I showed the book to my dad too, whose hand you can see in the photo below, alongside my youngest daughter who is 2.

Rainy days can be a tricky one when you have young children to entertain and Sing to the Moon is based upon such a day. Set in Uganda, which has two rainy seasons each lasting over 2 months, readers are introduced to a young boy. He has aspirations, or as he calls them “wishes.” He wants to reach for the stars and his granddad, Jjajja tells him that should he sing to the moon such wishes could come true. However, after much thinking and daydreaming his reality of being stuck indoors hits home.

Jjajja is a warm, loving grandfather who is illustrated so well. With his grandsons help they complete jobs together. Readers are invited to embrace a new culture and to discover more about Ugandan life. You discover food tastes, Jjajja’s childhood memories and his passion for books which leads to an entertaining evening for this happy duo. Jjajja is wise, he is fun and most importantly he loves his grandson so much. He wants his grandson to have big aspirations and to not forget to sing to the moon.

This is a beautiful story that shares such a brilliant relationship. Jjajja is a great role model for his grandson and the way they converse represents the respect, love and enjoyment they have when in each others company. The rhythmic text and fantastic descriptive language makes this a wonderful read aloud, perfect for cosy reading time.

Available to buy from Amazon – Click the image below for further details.