Books like Murder Under A Western Moon — picked by fans

Murder Under a Blue Moon is totally fun! Well, except for the murders. But Mona Moon is so delightful, she even makes them fun!

The year is 1933, and Mona is a cartographer who has traveled extensively charting areas for archaeologists. The many twists and turns in this story will keep you turning the pages until the end, and then you’ll want to grab the second in the series immediately! 

Our ancestors were deeply connected to the rhythms of the Earth and Heavens to inform and predict their lives. We’ve all but forgotten these connections. Moon Magic helps us return to this ancient wisdom and understand the powerful energy of the Universe to help manifest our goals, find emotional balance, and maintain physical wellness. You are in control of this one enchanted life, so navigate by the moon for health and prosperity.

The Face of the Moon was the most important lunar book of the 20th century and perhaps of all time. Ralph Baldwin was an astronomer who studied stars, but while waiting to give public lectures at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium in 1941 he became fascinated by huge photos of the Moon on the planetarium’s walls. Baldwin saw that craters were everywhere, from tiny ones to giants hundreds of miles wide that had gouged surrounding terrain and ejected bright streamers of debris in all directions.

During World War 2 he recognized that myriads of craters from the Allied bombardment that had devasted France and Germany were tiny versions of what he saw on the Moon. The Moon’s craters were not volcanoes as commonly believed, they formed by explosions of projectiles – asteroids and comets. After the war, Baldwin investigated the physics of crater formation by setting off dynamite charges along the sandy… show more.

This is a beautifully written story highlighting young Max's tender relationship with his grandfather.

Before Max leaves to return home, his grandfather assures him that the tag-along moon will always be there and remind him of their time together, even if his grandfather is not physically with him.

Max and the Tag-Along Moon is comforting, peaceful, and a great reminder of unconditional love, acceptance, and positive familial relationships.

As explorers carrying cameras, the Gemini and Apollo astronauts (1965-72) were like the pioneer photographers of the 19th century who, with their cameras, responded to the unknowns of the American West. These astronauts, however, were responding to the new and unexplored by photographing their experiences inside their spacecraft and outside in the vacuum of space. During the late 90s the photographer Michael Light gained access to NASA’s Apollo-era photo archive and made the first drum-scanned digital files from perfect copies of the original flight films. Light’s artful editing and juxtaposition of superbly reproduced full-page black and white, and color images creates a cinematic-like journey to the moon and back. In the annals of published space photography, there are very few well-designed books as timeless.

Subtitled A Geologist’s History of Lunar Exploration, Don Wilhelms is every lunar scientist’s favorite selenographer. He worked from the very beginning of America’s lunar program to plan and prepare for humans to go to the Moon, including training geologists to map and understand an alien nearby world, and training fighter pilot astronauts to become extraterrestrial field geologists. To a Rocky Moon is Don’s comprehensive and entertaining story from an insider’s point of view of the officials, scientists, engineers, and astronauts who solved thousands of problems to successfully voyage to the Moon six times, and to survive one nearly disastrous aborted attempt. 

I especially like Don’s telling of the personalities of the people involved, nearly all of whom he knew and worked with. Virtually everyone struggled at some point but ultimately became a hero – or got out of the way – in learning about the Moon and getting us… show more.

Nothing will create an impact on my life's work as the original transformation scene from Sailor Moon. This scene inspired me to pursue my fashion schooling, and the pages of this art book are pure inspiration. Watching traditionally drawn dresses and beautiful characters always motivated me to push my creative boundaries and strive for perfection. Revisiting the ways of creating magical light effects and textures by using only watercolors and ink is crucial for any artist, especially one wanting to connect with manga.

I absolutely love reading this book to my son. No matter how many times we read it, he keeps asking for us to read it again! He went through a phase (pun intended!) where he was obsessed with the moon and wanted to learn all about it.

This book is educational and teaches kids about the moon, but it is still a fun and engaging read with adorable illustrations. 

This children’s book about the Apollo program inspired *me*, so I can only imagine how inspirational it is for curious young minds. This book focuses on several non-astronauts, “the regular folks whose efforts made an impossible mission possible in the first place,” writes author Catherine Thimmesh.

This is a fascinating look at the dramatic story behind the Apollo 11 mission, the first to land humans on the moon. The personal stories from scientists, engineers, and even seamstresses portray how it took an army of people from around the world to successfully send three humans to the moon.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon drew me in with its beautiful illustrations and glimpse into the rich mythologies of China.

Minli, a poor girl, lives where Fruitless Mountain and Jade River meet and like Haroun, has a storyteller father. When she spends two copper coins on a talking goldfish, it tells her how to find the Old Man on the Moon and change her family’s fortune. Minli sets off on her quest in the company of a dragon who cannot fly and discovers that good fortune means more than riches.

A delightful fable of friendship and family, with stories from Chinese folklore embedded within the main narrative.