Regards to the Man in the Moon
Viking, 1981
Louie is unhappy because the other kids call his father “the junk man.” But his father knows it’s not just junk. “All a person needs is some imagination! And a little of that stuff can take you right out of this world!” So Louie builds a spaceship fueled entirely by imagination—and he and his friends blast off into an amazing adventure.
Take a Closer Look
Louie, the main character of Regards to the Man in the Moon, is perhaps Keats’s most deeply felt protagonist. In the books Louie, The Trip and Louie’s Search, we watch him develop from a mute, withdrawn child to a social being who stands up for himself. Most important, he realizes that his need to create connects him to the world. Here, he learns to use his imagination creatively and socially—in space! He and Susie blast off in Imagination I, an old-fashioned washing machine from his father’s junkyard, and are soon joined by friends in an old bathtub. Ezra employs color, collage, photography and marbling to capture the immensity, silence and dangers of space—with the very Keatsian image of kids piloting an old washing machine.
Look Beyond the Book
Games
Spot the Difference
Can you tell these pairs of pictures apart?
Activities & More
Space Junk
Real-life adventures in space, links to space-age activities, Ezra’s space odyssey remembered, what’s new (a quiz)
Lesson Plans
Exploring Space
Themes: Imagination, Friendship, Resourcefulness, Teasing
Video Takes
Baarrooommm!
All aboard the Imagination I with Louie and friends— destination: deep space!
