The Moon Is a Ball

Join Panda and Squirrel in nine funny, wise and thoughtful stories about the meaning of friendship by two world greats of children’s literature. Perfect for emerging readers.

Panda and Squirrel have an unbreakable friendship. They can’t live without each other and do everything together: lie on the rocks to look at the moon, take walks, play games. One of their journeys lasts for only two steps, another day they discover a newly hatched duckling. Sometimes they argue but they always make up again. This is a friendship for any day: roaring, quiet, grumbling, snoring...always.

This beautiful hardback storybook, with full-colour illustrations throughout, features down-to-earth and warm-hearted friendship stories that reach straight from the soul of one six-year-old to another.
Perfect for emerging readers or for reading aloud together, it’s a book to read again and again.

Written by Ed Franck, one of Belgium’s most important and innovative children’s writers, and illustrated by Thé Tjong-Khing, a world-leading illustrator for children, whose many accolades include nomination for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.


Translated from the Dutch edition by David Colmer.


Praise for The Moon is a Ball

âcaptivating text, ideal for reading aloud.â The New York Times

"Full of heart and gentle humor, Panda and Squirrel are sure to please." Booklist, US

âAs Franck models charming rapport and low-stakes companionship, Tjong-Khing’s delicate artwork provides nature-filled scenes of glorious suns and a bamboo forest.â Publishers Weekly, US

âStriking artwork and sweet, funny stories about friendship make The Moon Is a Ball an amusing addition to the philosophical friends genre, alongside Winnie-the-Pooh and Frog and Toad Are Friends.â Shelf Awareness, US

âFamilies who love short, illustrated fiction featuring animals, such as The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham or Ulf Nilsson's Detective Gordon series.â Youth Services Book Review

âEnjoyable.â Kirkus Reviews, US

"[an] upbeat, curiosity-inducing early reader." Foreword Reviews