This is the type of book that I was envisioning, when I mentioned, in my review of Natalia Belting's The Sun Is a Golden Earring, that I wished the author had delved deeper into the world's legends and mythology, concerning the celestial bodies and phenomena. With twenty-eight tales from around the world, many of them explaining how the constellations were formed, The Moon Is a Crystal Ball is an excellent counterpart to the more well-known Greco-Roman myths concerning the stars. It is, in fact, intended by the author to be just that, and so most of the legends here will be new to the reader.

From the opening selection - the titular The Moon is a Crystal Ball, an Indian tale in which the evil spirit Arakho, having drunk of the water of everlasting life, continually pursues the moon and sun, causing the eclipses when he tries to swallow them - to the final tale - the Shawnee story of White Hawk and the Star Maidens, in which a great hunter marries a star maiden, eventually joining her in the heavens, when her homesickness causes her to return to the sky - these myths are engaging. I did recognize a few of them, from the Blackfoot tale of Star Boy, which has also been retold by Paul Goble, to the Estonian The Wedding Veil in the Sky, which can also be found in Elinda Who Danced in the Sky. But for the most part, they were indeed unfamiliar.

Anne Marie Jauss, who also illustrated Belting's Three Apples Fell From Heaven: Unfamiliar Legends of the Trees, contributes some lovely black and white illustrations. I particularly liked her depictions of the constellations - it was fascinating, for example, to see the star group that we commonly think of as the Big Dipper, turned into a bear pursued by a group of birds. I did feel that some of the legends could have been attributed with greater specificity, but all in all, this was a lovely little collection. ( )