Moon Pops

During an extremely hot evening in the city, the animal inhabitants of an apartment building begin turning on their air conditioners and fans, and they are too preoccupied to notice what’s happening with the moon. It’s melting. Granny Wolf is the only one to notice, and she soon rushes out with a bucket to catch the moon drops. Granny has an idea: turn the moon drops into moon pops, a frozen treat that will help melt away the heat. She wisely saves a few final drops, just in case.

When the building suffers from a power outage, Granny’s apartment is the only one to have power, thanks to her moon pops. She graciously shares these frozen treats with her neighbours, and they are finally able to beat the heat and go to sleep.

But not everyone is able to go to sleep. Granny gets a knock on her door from two rabbits who lived on the moon that melted away. With her last remaining moon drops, Granny is able to grow an evening primrose that gives birth to a new full moon, and the rabbits are happily relocated to their new home.

Extremely inventive, Heena Baek’s Moon Pops is an imaginative take on Korean folklore. The writing is crisp and leaves a certain magic in the air. Plus, Baek’s artwork here is stunning. She blends diorama scenes with hand-drawn characters that really transport the reader to an apartment building in the middle of a heat wave.