Longtime favorite children's author Margaret Wise Brown, whose books such as Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny have sold more than 20 million copies, will make a fresh impression on today's children as The Moon Shines Down is published by Thomas Nelson next month.

The picture book, for ages 4 and up, will release 56 years after the author's sudden death in 1952. In a style similar to Goodnight Moon, the book takes children on a bedtime tour, this time of the globe where children of many countries and living situations share the same moon that shines down on them.

The Moon Shines Down came to light recently after a stash of Brown's handwritten work was unearthed in a Vermont barn belonging to her sister, Roberta. The forgotten manuscripts had been stored in a cedar trunk. Laura Minchew, Thomas Nelson vice president and publisher of children's books, acquired the manuscript for The Moon Shines Down in 2007.

"We reviewed several of the unfinished manuscripts and discovered The Moon Shines Down," Minchew said. "We loved the concept because it included children from all different nationalities, and tying that to the familiar verse 'God Bless the Moon and God Bless Me' from an old New England embroidery sampler prayer."

Read more in the Oct. 13 issue of Christian Retailing.

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