The Moon Was the Best is an unusual book for Charlotte in two ways. First, it is set far from home, in Paris, France. Secondly, it is the only one of Charlotte's books to be illustrated not with drawings or paintings, but with photographs. They are by Tana Hoban, and they are vivid, bringing the City of Light to life not through the large, panoramic views we are accustomed to seeing, but through smaller and more intimate close-ups... what a child's eye view of Paris might be. This is a Paris, for instance, where "people sat at outdoor cafes / while underneath the tables / the dogs watched everyone go by. " 

Yet perhaps it is not so unusual after all, for Charlotte brings Paris is close to home in The Moon Was the Best, for it is finally not about Paris but about a mother remembering her trip to there, image by sight by sound, for her eager daughter. This identical idea is explored from a slightly different angle, about a very different place, in  The Seashore Book. 

This is one of many books by Charlotte edited by Susan Hirschman. 

Charlotte and her husband, Maurice Zolotow, went to Paris when their daughter was about 8. Charlotte remembered to tell her everything. You can see pictures of Charlotte, Maurice, and their daughter and son at CZ's Family Album.