Miss Moon

Miss Moon: Wise Words from a Dog Governess / Janet Hill
Toronto: Tundra, c2016
48 p.

This charming art book is written and illustrated by Janet Hill, a local painter & bookish type. Miss Moon is a dog governess, who has taken on the responsibility for training 67 unruly dogs belonging to a family on a small island of the coast of France.

It shares life lessons in brief vignettes; things like "With a little creativity, the impossible can become the possible" -- or, "Respect the property of others" -- or, "A Good walk is not a race". The focus and the prime attraction of the book is most definitely the full spread illustrations. They are replete with little details tucked away which requires serious perusal of the pages to make sure you find every one of the delightful surprises and personalities that Hill includes. If you love art and think there is a thoughtful child or art-loving adult in your life who'd appreciate this, do share it.

Janet is a local, and an acquaintance, but I hope you will still take my review of this book as an objective one. I am not a dog person, but I did find this book a lot of fun. Now if only Miss Moon could take on the onerous job of herding cats...

This book was first published in French as Mademoiselle Moon, about a year before this version -- if you like quirky and elegant art, and think reading the 20 life lessons imparted in this book in French would make them even more apropos, you can still find it for sale.

Also, if you just want to explore more of Hill's artworks, check out her website, Janet Hill Studio, and her Etsy store. She has many illustrations of many different subjects, all reasonably priced as well.

I'd recommend this book to older children and adults; it might work well to read together, examining the illustrations and trying to guess what happens next. Each page is just a quick capture of one moment in what seems to be a very busy life!