 A spunky American girl goes to an English boarding school.
“Delightful,” Booklist, starred review
“... makes you laugh
out loud,” Just Books
“Koponen is a gifted
writer,” School Library Journal.
This true story was first edited by a
girl named Miranda -- I told her to cross out anything that was boring. She
and many other girls have read it over and over since then. I know because
readers email me:
"Lately I've been reading
books about girls my age whose boyfriends dump them and stuff like that.
My mother saw your book in the library and I told her I wouldn't like
it but she brought it home anyway. I read it and I LOVE IT! I read it in 2 days!"
“I have read your book, Blow Out
the Moon so many times, and loved it every single time! You once
came to my school, Bancroft Elementary School, and you taught us "Going
Home Tomorrow" [a song in the book]. I was in 4th grade at the
time and now I'm going into 7th grade and still reading over and over
your book!”
It has
also been given 2 awards and many good reviews.
Sample
chapters (with extra illustrations and links)
Chapter 1. News
Chapter 2. Telling Henry
Chapter 3. Two Tea Parties
Chapter 4. Bon Voyage
Chapter 5. Will You Miss Me?
Chapter 6. The Liberté
First boarding
school chapters (also with extra illustrations)
Chapter 14. Sibton Park
Chapter 15. Talking to a Real Horse
If you've already read
the book, you might enjoy looking at some chapters that weren't in it,
and pictures of Kenny, Peg, Pat, and Emmy. Warning: These chapters
are LONG and very detailed! Some people liked them the best, some people
hated them!) See what you think.
Extra
chapters (not in the printed book! These are mainly for my loyal readers:
The
Adventure of the Very Loud Living Room
The
Play
Sneak
Preview
If you read the book, you�ll
figure out what I was like � I�ll just say now that when my friends and
I got caught doing something a mother usually said:
�I suppose you were the ringleader, Libby?�
I thought of this as a compliment.
It wasn�t meant to be one, I know, but the word made me think of the circus
and being in the center of all the excitement and fun.
Go to chapter one
Activities
How
to play cat's cradle
Sing
the songs in the book and play them on the piano
Make
hovercraft (Libby and Henry's attack saucers) from old CDs & a
few other things
Letters,
Drawings, and Stories by Kids
(This is where I will put what you send me.)
Rhiannon's Version (a reader made paintings,
collages, and pop-ups to illustrate her version of Blow Out the Moon)
Letters from readers
Stories by people aged 7 to 15, including Libby
Contact
I
hope you'll email me (Libby, the author) and tell me what you think of
my book!
Libby.Koponen@gmail.com
I ALWAYS answer letters I get from people
who have read the book (though sometimes it takes me awhile). If you don't
get an answer, please check your spam folder or resend your email! My
not answering probably means either that your email didn't reach me or
mine didn't reach you. Please resend it to the gmail address, NOT the
email in the printed book!
�Libby's
joyous times at Sibton Park make you laugh out loud.�
8th grader writing in Just Books
*�Delightful,�
Booklist (starred review).
Fairy
Tales: Famous and Not So Famous
Rumplestiltskin
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
Jack and the Beanstalk
Cinderella (two versions)
Little Burnt Face (Micmac Cinderella)
Red Riding Hood (two versions)
Hansel and Gretel
Sleeping Beauty
Jack, the Cunning Thief
The Story of the Youth Who Set Out
to See
What Fear Was
The Charmed Life, or the Princess
and the Lift Man (This is by E. Nesbit -- it's
funny)
COVERS AND A REQUEST
If you liked the book and see it on a shelf
withonly its spine showing, would you turn it face out for me? (That way
more people will see it.) If you do this: THANK YOU!
TO MY LOYAL READERS (I understand now why old-fashioned
novels say "DEAR readers." That's how I feel about the people
who have written to me -- you ARE my dear readers.) : I'm updating this
Web site -- which version do you like better? I'll be adding more links
and fixing broken ones, too.
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Some
girls riding (if you've read the book -- they're in the stable yard. The
building where we had the play is in the background):
The
back and one side of the real boarding school. Click it to see a bigger
photograph.
Part
of the drive and front of the house
The
front and back look different because they were built at different times
(the house was started in the 1300s and added onto over the years).
Libby's
best friend at the boarding school at the beginning of their riding lesson.
Part of the top row in the school picture -- Linda Jay is the one with the braids
Click
to see a map and more pictures of the boarding
school.
FROM
RHIANNON's VERSION
From
Rhiannon's version of the book
Kay Nielsen illustrations for "East of the Sun and
West of the Moon."
This is what an eighth-grader
wrote about Blow Out the Moon in a kids-only paper called Just
Books:
"This
tale of a young girl's voyage to England and the total difference in life
styles is fascinating. Libby doesn't want to move to England, she
wants to stay with her friends, especially with Henry. Libby is fascinated
by the long boat ride, but when she reaches England Libby isn't happy.
She longs for the sunshine and her American life. The people at school
aren't nice and Libby wants to leave, until she finds Sibton Park, an
English boarding school for girls, and one boy. It offers horseback riding
lessons, and to Libby's horror, table manners. Libby's joyous times
at Sibton Park make you laugh out loud and her funny point of view is
great. Sibton Park comes alive as you read this interesting, funny
story of Libby Koponen's childhood." -- eighth grader writing in
Just Books
If you read it, please write and tell
me what you think! I'll write back, I promise. My email is:
Libby.Koponen@gmail.com
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Blow
Out the Moon (novel), and ifyoulovetoread.com copyright © 2004 Libby Koponen. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
To anyone who went to Sibton Park: I had to take the rest of the chapters down -- but I will be happy to email the Sibton Park chapters to you if you would like to see them....and there's a Sibton Park page on Facebook now!
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Image above
from Chapter 14., Sibton Park, as illustrated in First Choice, an anthology
edited by Gitte Frandsen and Tania Kristiansen.
Copyright
©
2006 Glydendal, Denmark.
 Go back to the home page
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