This dreamy, contemplative picture book tempts readers with images of a strange other world, and brings to mind Alice in Wonderland. Mr Moon – a cat probably, though he could be something else altogether – seems always to be mid-nap whatever the child narrator is doing, so not much fun as a companion. Until one night he’s spotted climbing through the wallpaper. The child follows emerging into a different place where Mr Moon is anything but sleepy. Together they play chess, badminton, go rowing and picnic with Mr Moon’s friends. In the end it’s the child who wants to go home to bed. Beautiful to look at, this has a really magical air and gives children space to think and dream. ~ Andrea Reece
Mr Moon always sleeps. He naps during hide-and-seek, passes out on puzzles and dozes during adventure stories. But what would happen if Mr Moon ever woke up? Would he lead us to hidden, dream-like worlds, filled with fantastic friends and exciting games? And if he did, would we remember in the morning?
This is a beautiful debut picture book, featuring delicate hand-screenprinted illustrations, which celebrates the world of the imagination – the unseen and hidden things that just might be going on while we sleep. Set in a peaceful and timeless garden, filled with traditional games and activities, it encourages the reader to see the extraordinary in the everyday.
Jemima Sharpe was born in Cambridge. She grew up in a household with three cats who occasionally joined her for tea parties, and mostly slept through them.
She studied fashion design at London College of Fashion. She has been a cocktail waitress, a shop girl at London’s oldest vintage shop, Steinberg & Tolkien, and a fashion design assistant.
Jemima rekindled her love of drawing on the Children’s Book Illustration MA course at Cambridge School of Art. Here she found the print room and, with technical advice from John Williams, began making screen prints for Mr Moon Wakes Up.
She won the 2013 Sebastian Walker Award for New Talent in Illustration.
