Picture Book 8

Title: Kitten’s First Full Moon

Author: Kevin Henkes

Illustrator: Kevin Henkes

Genre: Children’s Picture Book

Subgenre: Picture book

Theme: Perseverance, Learning
Primary Character: Kitten

Date of publication: 2004, Won Caldecott Award in 2005

Publishing Company: Greenwillow Books/ Harper Collins Publishers

Summary: Kitten’s First Full Moon is about a kitten who sees what appears to be a bowl of delicious milk in the sky. Actually, it is a full moon; she had just never seen a full moon before. Determined to enjoy that ‘bowl of milk’, she goes on an adventure. The kitten chases, pounces and sneaks up on this bowl of milk until she realizes it’s a lost cause and she is exhausted. At the end of the story, a worn out kitten returns home and finds a bowl of milk waiting for her. Happy kitten.  

I would use this story in my classroom to create an art project out of it. Special Education students often need to work on their fine motor skills and cutting out an image of the moon and kitten would assist in that. Also, using a glue stick and coloring with crayons inside the lines will help them improve upon their fine motor skills.