AN ALLEGORY OF A MEANINGFUL JOURNEY

When a distressed rat and a snarky cat step through a moon gate, they discover they’re on an unexpected and ancient path. Joining them on this unpredictable journey is a miserable dragon and the remaining ten of the now scattered twelve Chinese zodiac animals. In a race against time, the animals quickly learn that only by working together can they find the mysterious New Moon Circle—and themselves.

A SHORT FULL-COLOR ILLUSTRATED NOVEL

• Written and Illustrated by Peter Simpson Cook

• 100 page book or all readers — 9 years old to 90

• Language: English

• Book Size: 6 in. x 9 in.

• Printed on premium paper and full color throughout

• Choose between hardcover, paperback and eBook

• Durable laminate gloss hardback cover

• Featuring partial YEARS OF THE CHINESE HOROSCOPE information for all the animals with auspicious characteristics and other significant insights.

“For what it’s worth, this book was created for humans (like yourself) to read out loud to each other. I don’t care if you’re 9 years old or ninety—crack the spine and get to it.”

—THE CAT

WAY OF THE NEW MOON CIRCLE is a fictional tale from Chinese mythology, based on events twelve years after the Jade Emperor’s Great Race. The winners of that competition are the now isolated twelve zodiac animals who have been invited to attend a reunion on the eve of the lunar new year. Pursuing the circle’s unknown location, the animals find themselves in an allegorical narrative that plays with their assigned emotions and characteristics from Chinese zodiac astrology. Only by using their unique strengths (including a few unpredicted personality traits) and through cooperation can the animals find what they seek. By looking inward, will these animals finally grasp that competing gets them nowhere and that their long quest can be a meaningful journey?

This book features Chinese zodiac animal illustrations from the PSC ART STUDIO collection. Available at: etsy.com/shop/PSCArtStudio

Artwork created by Peter Simpson Cook. All rights reserved © PETER SIMPSON COOK.

Way of the New Moon Circle Written and Illustrated by Peter Simpson Cook

A short full-color illustrated novel—for readers of all ages.

Copyright © 2025 by Peter Simpson Cook. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the author, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2025902149

ISBN 979-8-9925459-0-6  (Paperback Full-Color Illustrated Edition)

ISBN 979-8-9925459-1-3  (Hardcover Full-Color Illustrated Edition)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thank you for your creative insights, expert knowledge and support: Susan M. Blake, Christine Cava Preston, Kathleen Riley, Sean Riley & May Sun.

Designed by Peter Simpson Cook, Produced by PSC Artist Studio for Quail Books and PSC Publishing, California, United States of America.

Printed in the USA