The Princess and the Moon

This flight of fancy from frequent collaborators Ikeda and Wildsmith ( The Snow Country Prince ; The Cherry Tree ) combines a mystical moonlit journey with a message about inner beauty. One night the Great Moon Rabbit leaps from the sky and lands in young Sophie's garden. The girl is whisked away by her lapine escort to a conference with the moon. In the heavens, Sophie is shown a parallel world where Earth's people appear ``as they really are,'' and she is encouraged to ``wear a smile'' and to ``open her heart,'' because ``we're all princes and princesses underneath'' and deserve to be treated as such. Ikeda's blunt moralizing makes for a somewhat leaden fantasy with a pat ending. Readers may recognize Sophie's realization as a nice sentiment, perhaps, but a lukewarm picture-book plot. Happily, Wildsmith's shimmering paintings provide a sumptuous playground for soaring imaginations. His broad watercolor palette breathes magic into the expansive depictions of a mountainous moon world or the blackest of night skies flecked with myriad stars and planets. The feast here is visual, and may leave young readers hungry for a good story. Ages 4-8. (Nov.)