Moonlight on the River

In this gentle telling of a rite of passage, two brothers go fishing under the full moon, slipping out of their house and unmooring the family sailboat to ride up the river. When a squall blows up, they are gestured to a sheltered cove by a mysterious sailor--could it be the spirit of Joshua Slocum, as the illustrations unobtrusively hint? At dawn they return home with a five-pound bluefish, a final gift from the watery depths. Realistic charcoal drawings recall the work of Chris Van Allsburg; but unlike Van Allsburg's The Wreck of the Zephyr , in which a boy's pride brings a literal fall, here a beneficent spirit protects and guides the young sailors. Kovacs ( Brewster's Courage ) has collaborated with first-time illustrator Shattuck, a neighbor on Massachusetts's Slocum River, to create a tale as regionally flavored as New England clam chowder. The embossed silver title not only evokes moonlight but will also help lure readers to examine this black-and-white book's subtle pleasures. Ages 3-8. (May)