A Booktrust review of The Boy Who Climbed Into the Moon wrote "Beautiful colour illustrations complement a surreal modern fairytale, which fluent young readers will enjoy on their own but which could equally well be read aloud."[1] and in a starred review Kirkus Reviews wrote "Roald Dahl meets Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in this delightfully improbable tale .. Madmen are heroes and crackpots are geniuses in this charmingly over-the-top read-aloud that challenges readers to imagine the impossible. Dunbar’s abundant full-color illustrations perfectly capture the beautiful barminess of it all."[2]
A Guardian review found it "charming without being twee; quirky without being whimsical; and genuinely thought-provoking without being clever-clever."[3] Booklist called it a "quirky tale"[4] while the School Library Journal referred to "the thematically overstuffed, disjointed, and arbitrary plot".[4] The Horn Book found it "Part Little Prince and part Phantom Tollbooth"[4]
The Boy Who Climbed Into the Moon has also been reviewed by Publishers Weekly,[5] Common Sense Media,[6] and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.[7]
