Ayu and the Perfect Moon

 

Front cover of "Ayu and the Perfect Moon" 

Ayu and the Perfect Moon by David Cox is a traditional literature book. This is a box written by award winner David Cox that would be perfect for ages 4-10 because of how it could open the child's eyes to the different cultures of the world. 

Ayu and the Perfect Moon is about a story set in Bali and it's told by the older Ayu, but she tells the story her younger self and talks about loving processions, dancers in masks, and giant puppets. But what she liked most of all was looking at the pictures of her mother when she was a little girl. Ayu began dancing the legong dance and kept practicing every night. One time the prince of the village even told her that one day she'd be dancing during a full moon for the village. Then one day Ayu's mother dressed her in a beautiful dancer's outfit that was read and gold. The music began to play and she danced as the full moon rose above the palms trees. That night Ayu danced from her heart, feet, hands, and eyes and just enjoyed the perfect moment under the moon. Then it was over and everyone went home and all Ayu could think and dream about was dancing. After Ayu told her story to the young little girls they asked her what happened after her performance and she said, "the moon was a little bit smaller."

Here's Ayu in her dancing clothes.

I would use this book in my class to help show students in grades K-4 about the different cultures and what comes with it. For example with this book the class would learn about culture in some parts of Bali and the dance legong. Which is what Ayu was performing with other girls under the perfect moon. Like mentioned before I might use this book to show the different traditions that other cultures do and I wouldn't just do this one book I would try and do other books from other cultures as well.