Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Claire-de-Lune was an infant when her mother, a brilliant dancer, died on stage of a broken heart. Her stern grandmother is determined that Claire-de-Lune avoid that fate, so she takes magical steps to ensure that Claire-de-Lune will never know love, instead concentrating all her efforts on The Dance. As a result, Clair-de-Lune cannot speak, and she is plagued by a sad loneliness until she meets Bonaventure, a talking mouse. Bonaventure has come to the city to pursue his dream of starting a dance studio, and he takes Claire-de-Lune to visit his benefactor, a kindly monk who lives in a monastery mysteriously situated within Claire-de-Lune's apartment building. Golds' language shimmers with a precise, crisp delicacy that deftly complements the three principals—the pale, willowy dancer, the artistic, graceful mouse, and the contemplative, wise monk—and the thematic link between language, art, love, and beauty. Although the setting is ostensibly 150 years ago in a densely populated European city, the mousehole dance studio and the monastery by the sea within the building move the story into a mythic time and space with multivalent symbolic resonances. The whimsical, gently humorous story plays out with grace, wisdom, and life-affirming sensitivity, despite some profoundly sad moments; readers will be captivated by Brother Inchmahome's charm, Bonaventure's nobility, and Claire-de-Lune's tragedy as they contemplate the deeper values that compose a genuinely artistic and fulfilling life.