''Moon Man'' (''Jean de Lune'', in French) is a novel written and illustrated by French author

Tomi Ungerer Jean-Thomas "Tomi" Ungerer (; 28 November 1931 – 9 February 2019) was an Alsatian artist and writer. He published over 140 books ranging from children's books to adult works and from the fantastic to the autobiographical. He was known for sha ...

published in 1966. The book won the Book Week prize for children aged 4-8 when it was first released, and is considered a satire by Ungerer himself.

Plot

The

Man in the Moon In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar ma ...

(who is literally a man in the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

), wishes to join the humans of

Planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

dancing in parties, because he thinks life is boring. One night, as a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

flies by, the Moon Man jumps out of the moon, catching the comet's tail, bringing him down to Earth, frightening forest animals. The crash brings hundreds of people from a nearby town to the site. The Moon Man ends up getting thrown in prison because the people mistake him for an invader, instead of a friendly visitor, and even gets shackled with a

ball and chain A ball and chain is a physical restraint device historically applied to prisoners, primarily in the British Empire and its former colonies, from the 17th century until as late as the mid-20th century. A type of shackle, the ball and chain is ...

. Nights later, he enters the third quarter of the phase of the moon, shrinking to a small size and so can escape, via the window. When the general comes to inspect, he finds that the Moon Man's prison cell is empty. Two weeks later, the Moon Man grows back to his full size, wandering while discovering the plants and animals, he comes upon a garden party, with people in gorgeous costumes dancing. A grumpy killjoy complains about the music to the police, and, scared by the police officers' equipment and uniforms, the Moon Man dashes in the forest, beginning a wild chase. Swiftly outracing the police, he comes upon a hidden castle, where he finds scientist Bunsen van der Dunkel, who shows him his experiment he had been perfecting for years: a spaceship, which the Moon Man can use to go back home. Bunsen takes the Moon Man to the rocket ship and waits for him to shrink again into his third phase. A few nights later, the Moon Man squeezes into the rocket, bids Bunsen a tearful farewell, and blasts off back to the moon. He realizes that the humans of Earth are not as welcoming as he thought they’d be, as he can never live peacefully on the planet and he stays nestled up in the sky, inside the silvery moon, and never returns to earth.

Film adaptations

1981 film

In 1981, the novel was made into the first of two animated films by Weston Woods Studios and Krátký Film Praha, with narration by

Peter Hawkins Peter John Hawkins (3 April 1924 – 8 July 2006) was a British actor. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, he was one of the most sought-after voice artists for radio and television, becoming a regular face and voice around the Soho-based cir ...

and music by Karel Velebný. It was directed by Gene Deitch. An

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

version was also released.

2012 film

In 2012 the book was adapted again by Stephan Schesch and Sarah Clara Weber as a French-German-Irish coproduction. This version featured a heavily expanded plot, in which the Moon Man is hunted by the President of Earth (voiced by Michel Dodane). Ungerer acted as the narrator, with Isabelle Leprince as Moon Man.

References

1966 novels 1966 children's books French books Fiction about discrimination Novels set in prison Novels set on the Moon Short stories set on the Moon Short stories adapted into films {{1960s-novel-stub