The Man in the Moon

A story retold from Mother Goose in Prose, by L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum—who later wrote The Wizard of Oz—published Mother Goose in Prose in 1897, turning familiar nursery rhymes into playful short stories. This tale imagines the lonely Man in the Moon sliding down a moonbeam to visit Earth, where everything works backwards for him: cold porridge burns his mouth, and cool water scalds him. Baum's world runs on contraries and nonsense, inviting young readers into a topsy-turvy adventure. This reader reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The story is worth a child's time because it celebrates curiosity, shows that home can feel right even when other places seem exciting, and delights in the logic of impossible things.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readers, about 4 to 5

Length

short · about 337 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Mother Goose in Prose, L. Frank Baum · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.