You know those picture books that bring tears to your eyes and goosebumps to your skin? Nigel and the Moon by Antwan Eady and Gracey Zhang is one of those books.

Nigel talks to the moon every night. He tells the moon his biggest dreams. The moon is his safe place to reveal his secrets because he doesn’t feel like he can share his dreams with others, especially not the other children in his class. The class is learning about careers and he’s afraid his classmates may look down on him because in his mind, his parents don’t have fancy jobs. When his parents arrive for career day, Nigel realizes that he can dream big.

Antwan Eady’s story is a story of having big dreams, even when those dreams seems far away. Readers will notice that Nigel is the only Black child in a sea of white children in his class. When researching his favourite jobs, he cannot find anyone who looks like him doing any of his chosen jobs in any of the books he finds. So many young readers will feel deeply understood, their experiences reflected, by Nigel’s story and hopefully gain the courage to share their big dreams with the world.

Canadian Gracey Zhang creates incredible vignettes and sprawling two pages spreads throughout the story. Her big bold outlines and loving embrace of everyday tasks creates the perfect conditions to share this story with a group of children. Share this story you MUST! The message about dreaming big and having pride in yourself is a message all children should hear, the more frequently the better.

Nigel and the Moon is a wonderful story for young readers and one that should be shared with older readers as well. There is so much to examine and many avenues for some incredibly rich discussions throughout.