ABSTRACT
It’s bedtime. A 3-year-old sits in a comfortable chair with his mother as she reads aloud. Typically, the two engage in an interesting discussion about the pictures and the story. In one of the illustrations, a cow is portrayed jumping over a crescent-shaped moon. “Oh, look at that moon!” she exclaims to her son, who has a disconcerted look on his face. When she asks her 3-year-old what is wrong, he tells her that the moon is “broken.” “Yes, I guess it does look that way,” says the mother, realizing that a crescent-shaped moon is not yet part of her preschooler’s visual vocabulary.
