What is it? 

A beautifully illustrated 22-page board book telling a story via Puck’s lines from Act V of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Who is it for? 

The book was designed for children ages 0-3 and their caregivers, so it’s sturdy, nontoxic, and fun. But anyone who loves Shakespeare—or lovely, whimsical art—will love it. 

What’s special about it? 

This is literature for everyone, wrapped up in gorgeous original art, and organized into a funny, heartwarming story featuring stand-ins for the most beloved characters of the play. Because the text is rhyming, rhythmic, and associated with a visual story, small children have lots of reasons to enjoy it. Because it's made up of some of the best-beloved words of the most celebrated poet of the English language, anyone reading it to a child will have a great time too. This is a board book you'll be proud you memorized.

When can I get it? 

The book is currently at press and expected back from the printer sometime in March 2017. Books will ship to US buyers immediately and to the UK at a slight delay. Preorders are very much recommended for the UK as shipping prices will increase significantly after preorders are sent. International shipping outside the UK will remain the same. All preordered books should arrive by April 2017. 

Why is Behowl the Moon good for kids? 

- Hearing verse and wordplay helps kids learn to speak and communicate, especially when it’s repeatable. Fun sounds are fun sounds no matter how old you are. But rhymes and rhythm are common in books for the very young because they help kids learn what to expect, and how to understand new words in context. (Literal pictures help with this too.) Repetition solidifies that knowledge, so reading the same books over and over is useful, even though it’s hard on adults. 

- Stories (as opposed to primers or unrelated collections of words and pictures) teach cause and effect, empathy, and problem-solving skills.Almost all stories follow a character or group of characters as they face adversity, consider their options, decide to act, and discover the consequences of what they’ve done. These patterns repeat throughout time and geography and become the backbone of how we understand our world. 

There’s a reason for that. Stories have immense power: to put us in someone else’s shoes, to try out different philosophies, to teach us from the experience of others. 

And if all that isn’t enough, they simply entertain us—the heart of the story is “What happens next?” 

- Time with an adult and a book reinforces the value of reading. Children benefit hugely from being read to by a person they love. Secure relationships are extremely important when children are very young, and tying those relationships to the activity of reading increases the chances of fostering it in the children themselves. The importance of reading for independence, school readiness, and academic achievement is well documented—but it has to start somewhere. 

- Fun for adults means more benefit for kids. The more excitement and enthusiasm the reader brings to the text, the more fun small children are likely to have, and the more positive they will feel about reading and books in general. This is the perfect opportunity to ham up your performance for an adoring audience. And if you and your child enjoy storytime more, you may find more opportunities to add stories into your day—with Behowl the Moon or any other book that sings to you. 

Why is Behowl the Moon good for parents and caregivers?

-"Read it again!" without the dread. With rhyming, rhythmic text, repetition, and pictures relating to the words, board books are pretty easy to memorize. If a child takes a shine to a particular book, it's not uncommon to end up reading it ten times in a day or fifty in a week. And grownups are people too! 

- Learn some Shakespeare while you play. With Behowl the Moon, the text you're reading is intended to be memorized--actors have been doing it for hundreds of years. It lends itself to lots of fun interpretations your child will love, like animal noises, fairy voices, Oscar bait voices, and creepy voices. And when it comes right down to it, you're reading Shakespeare. There are in-jokes and references, mythological allusions, wordplay on an adult level. It sounds fantastic declaimed to a captive audience. And there's a lot more depth to the meaning than something created expressly for the diaper set. 

- Twenty-two pages of escape. On a day when everyone has hopped on Pop or are-you-my-mothered you half to distraction, some Elizabethan theater can really flip your terrible horribles around. The artwork isn't just gorgeous, it calls back to the Rude Mechanicals of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Folklore and tradition are wound through the illustrations. Read to your child and feed your imaginations together!