If the Moon | Picture Book Spotlight

If the Moon by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Matthew Forsythe, is a dreamy bedtime story that turns nighttime worries into a gorgeous journey through imagination. I don’t normally feature bedtime stories in my New Release Spotlights—unless they’re something truly special, and this one absolutely is.

I do not normally feature bedtime stories in my New Release Spotlights. There are so many published every year, and unless a bedtime book offers something truly special, it usually isn’t the best fit for the kinds of books I feature here.

If the Moon by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Matthew Forsythe, is one of those special books.

Every once in a while, I open a new picture book and immediately think, Oh, this is going on my Caldecott list.

Yep. This is one of those, too.

Published August 4, 2026, If the Moon is a dreamy, lyrical bedtime story about that strange little space between being awake and falling asleep. It begins with a child tucked into bed, where nighttime worries have started to creep in. But rather than staying with those anxious “what ifs,” the story gradually transforms them into something imaginative, adventurous, and beautiful.

A Bedtime Story About Turning Worries Into Wonder

The word if is at the heart of Matthew Burgess’s If the Moon.

At first, “if” represents the worries that can feel especially large in a dark bedroom at night. But as imagination takes over, those possibilities become something completely different.

What if you were a fish? A hummingbird? A snowflake? A cluster of stars?

The child’s quilt becomes a portal into an imaginative adventure through oceans, gardens, snowy skies, and even outer space. Along the way, the child transforms into different creatures and explores one possibility after another.

Instead of allowing “if” to remain a word associated with nighttime anxiety, Burgess gradually turns it into an invitation to wonder.

The result is a bedtime story that is soothing without being sleepy in the traditional sense. There is plenty happening visually, but the lyrical text has a gentle rhythm that slowly carries the child—and the reader—toward sleep.

Matthew Forsythe’s Gorgeous Illustrations in If the Moon

And then there are Matthew Forsythe’s illustrations.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Forsythe, author and illustrator of Aggie and the Ghost, uses watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil to create spreads filled with deep jewel tones, texture, movement, and tiny details worth going back to examine.

The child’s colorful patchwork quilt becomes the visual jumping-off point for the entire adventure. Its colors, patterns, and images reappear throughout the book, connecting wildly different settings into one cohesive dream world. By the end, the journey feels almost circular—the dreams seem to have emerged from the quilt, and the quilt itself becomes a record of the adventure.

This is also one of those picture books where the page turns really matter. Burgess’s spare text leaves plenty of room for Forsythe’s illustrations to take over the storytelling, and some of the visual transitions are wonderfully dramatic. A frightening nighttime thought can become something entirely different with the turn of a page.

There are spreads here that I would happily frame and put on my wall. Forsythe’s use of color is spectacular, and I love the way his illustrations move between intimate, cozy moments and huge imaginative landscapes while still feeling like they belong to the same visual world.

If the Moon and My 2027 Caldecott Longlist

If the Moon has already received starred reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Library Journal, and I can certainly see why. The bookmaking itself is exceptional.

For me, though, Matthew Forsythe’s artwork is the standout.

So yes—I’m officially putting If the Moon by Matthew Burgess and Matthew Forsythe on my longlist for the 2027 Caldecott Medal.

We still have plenty of 2026 picture books to see, but this is exactly the kind of illustration work I’ll want to remember when Caldecott season rolls around.

And considering that I don’t normally feature bedtime stories in my New Release Spotlights, the fact that I’m spotlighting this one at all probably tells you something.

If the Moon is special.

If you loved Matthew Forsythe’s illustrations in Aggie and the Ghost, you will absolutely want to see what he does with If the Moon. This is one I’d hand to librarians, teachers, parents—and definitely anyone who likes to start making their Caldecott predictions early.

ALSO BY MATTHEW BURGESS