''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 a French artist and writer from Alsace (a French region on the French/German border). He published over 140 books ranging from children's books to adult works and from the f ...

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 m ...

(who is literally a man in the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

), 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. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is ...

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

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

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 (also known as leg irons) is a physical restraint device historically used to bind prisoners of both adolescent and adult ages. Their use was prevalent in the Americas.Charles N.Pede, "DISCIPLINE Rather Than JUSTICE: Courts-Mar ...

. Nights later, he enters the

third quarter A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth. Because the Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, the same hemisphere is always facing the Earth. In common usage, the four major ...

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 Weston Woods Studios (or simply Weston Woods) is an American production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded ...

and Krátký Film Praha, with narration by

Peter Hawkins Peter John Hawkins (3 April 1924 – 8 July 2006) was a British actor. From the 1950s to 1980s, he was one of the most sought-after voice artists for television. Early life Peter John Hawkins was born on 3 April 1924 in Hargwyne Street in Bri ...

and music by

Karel Velebný Karel Velebný (17 March 1931 – 7 March 1989, Prague) was a Czechs, Czech jazz musician, composer, arranger, actor, writer and music pedagogue. Velebný was one of the founders of modern Czech jazz in the second half of the 20th century. Biog ...

. It was directed by

Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...

. 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 sch ...

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 French novels 1966 science fiction novels 1966 children's books French science fiction novels French children's novels Children's science fiction novels Novels set on the Moon Children's books set on the Moon Novels about discrimination Children's books about discrimination Novels set in prison French novels adapted into films Science fiction novels adapted into films Children's books adapted into films Books by Tomi Ungerer {{1960s-novel-stub