Moon Man [Hardcover] 月亮人 ISBN 9780714855981

　　In this gently satiric fable, Ungerer pokes fun atself-important adults who are afraid of anything or anyoneunfamiliar, and reminds us that there is indeed no place like home.On its first publication in the US in 1967, at the height of theSpace Race, Moon Man won the Book Week prize for books for childrenaged 4-8, and Maurice Sendak described it in "Book Week" as 'Easilyone of the bet picture books in recent years'. Since then, it hasbeen translated into 12 languages. "Moon Man" will be the nextclassic Ungerer tale to be turned into a full-length feature film,following on from the success of the award-winning "The ThreeRobbers", which was shown in French and German cinemas in 2007 andis due to be launched on DVD in the English-speaking world in Fall2008. Bored and lonely in his shimmering home in space, the MoonMan watches the people on Earth dancing and having a good time.Justonce, he thinks, he would like to join in the fun. So one night, heholds on to a passing comet and crash lands on Earth. But theunexpected arrival of this mysterious visitor causes statesmen,scientists and generals to panic, and the Moon Man is thrown intojail. Alone in his cell, the Moon Man uses his special powers toslip through the hands of the law: it turns out that in accordancewith the lunar phases, the Moon Man waxes and wanes. His left sidestarts to disappear - the Moon Man is his third quarter - and asthe moon grows thinner and thinner, so does the Moon Man.Finally,he is able to squeeze through the bars of his window and escape.Two weeks later, and once again fully formed, he enjoys hisnew-found freedom on Earth, and dances happily for hours at a partywhere all the other guests are wearing elaborate costumes andsimply think he has dressed up as the Man in the Moon. But thepolice are on his trail, and a wild chase ensues.Fleeing through aforest, Moon Man finds a remote castle, where he is welcomed by anancient, long-forgotten scientist named Doktor Bunsen van derDunkel, who has been working on a space ship for centuries, withthe aim of flying to the moon. Now too old and fat to fit into thecompleted rocket himself, Doktor van der Dunkel asks Moon Man to bethe first passenger. Knowing that he would never be able to live onEarth in peace, Moon Man returns home to his planet, happy to staythere forever now that his curiosity has been sated. Back on Earth,Doktor van der Dunkel finally gets the recognition he deserves forhis scientific breakthrough.