Unable to protect the children of Earth from nightmares when the moon is dark, MiM (the Man in the Moon) searches for an earthly partner in his work, finding him in the form of Sanderson Mansnoozie - Sandy for short - a fellow celestial traveler from the Golden Age, who was stranded when his comet was attacked during the great battle with the evil Pitch, King of Nightmares. William Joyce returns to his ongoing saga of The Guardians of Childhood in this second gorgeous picture-book, which continues the story begun in The Man in the Moon. Not what we had expected storywise, but nonetheless a gorgeous book. Beautiful, beautiful! Recommended age is 5+ for reading aloud but quite a bit older for individual reading, perhaps 9/10+. Each page is simply beautiful and the story, as it is, is fully realized with the fantastical, otherworldly illustrations which use a dark palette of blues, purples and browns contrasted with the bright glimmering yellow/gold light of the sandman, his sand, his star and the moon. He should be remembered as one of the greats of our time to follow in the footsteps of the likes of N.C. On the other hand, William Joyce is an illustrator extraordinaire. Some sort of continuity for readers of the entire series (picture & chapter) would have been appreciated. In truth, while the Sandman is an interesting character, his story is rather boring and feels out of place within the context of the overall series. None of the chapter book characters are mentioned except of course the villain Pitch, neither is any of that plot, nor is the story advanced in anyway. Yes, the man in the moon (MiM) is briefly present but this is "Sandy's" story of how he came to be in the "Golden Age", a time far in the past before the events taking place in the chapter books. We came to this book, looking forward very much to the picture book format again, expecting to be taken back to the world of "The Man in the Moon" and perhaps a small insight into the continuing storyline as we know the next chapterbook is titled after the Sandman as well.įirst, our disappointment came in that this story is very much a stand-alone.
We are reading all the books in order as they are published and *highly* enjoying this series: the writing, the world-building, the plot and the illustrations.
The picture books are called "The Guardians of Childhood" while the chapter books are called "The Guardians". It is made up of picture books and chapter books which in the long run are related to each other, same characters, but supposedly could be read apart from one another. For those not sure how this series works. Well, I feel a bit guilty not giving this book a 5* rating but I must be honest, we were somewhat disappointed.
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