Sign of the Moon is a children's fantasy novel written by Cherith Baldry

Cherith Baldry

Cherith Baldry is a writer of fantasy fiction. She grew up on a farm and worked with house cats. For a while, she took up the job of teaching, but gave up in order to become a full time writer. She currently lives in Reigate, England. Baldry collaborates with Kate Cary, Tui T...

 under the pseudonym Erin Hunter

Erin Hunter

Erin Hunter is a pseudonym used by the authors Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Tui Sutherland, along with editor Victoria Holmes. Under this pen name, they have written two series of books. They are best known for the Warriors series, but the authors have also created another similar series called...

. The novel was published by HarperCollins

HarperCollins

HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

 in the United States on April 5, 2011. It is the fourth novel in the Warriors: Omen of the Stars series. The book is preceded by Night Whispers and will be followed by The Forgotten Warrior.

Inspirations and influences

The authors of the series drew inspiration from several natural locations in the United Kingdom. The four Clans (WindClan, RiverClan, ThunderClan, and ShadowClan) share a fictional forest based on England's New Forest

New Forest

The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....

. Some other sources of inspiration for the series include the works of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

 and C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

.

Sign of the Moon follows several wild cats, Ivypool, Dovewing, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze, as they attempt to learn more about a prophecy concerning them. Jayfeather continues to search for information on the "Ancients," a group of cats who once lived where the Clans live in Sign of the Moon.

Plot

Ivypaw and Dovepaw get their warrior names of Ivypool and Dovewing. Icecloud falls through the shallow roof of a tunnel near where Hollyleaf was buried, and so Lionblaze and Jayfeather venture down the tunnel, only to find a tuft of fur in the spot Hollyleaf supposedly died in. This indicates that Hollyleaf may not be dead. Midway through the book, Jayfeather, Dovewing, Foxleap, and Squirrelflight visit the Tribe of Rushing Water when Jayfeather receives a dream from Rock, who insists he go to the mountains for a mysterious purpose. While there, Jayfeather is again sent into centuries before his own time, to convince the ancient Tribe ancestors to stay in the mountains, as they're weary and very close to returning to the lake (their previous home). Jayfeather (known as "Jay's Wing" in the ancient time he's visiting) succeeds in the mission Rock assigned him, and even completes the most important task of all: assigning the new Stoneteller of the Tribe in the ancient times, and in his own time. He appoints Half Moon as the Stoneteller of ancient times (who he has a brief relationship with, but as expected, it does not work out) and Crag Where Eagles Nest as the Stoneteller of modern times. While in his slight relationship with Half Moon, Jayfeather is tempted to never return to his own time and stay with her to become mates. This, obviously, does not succeed as their paths are very different, with destinies too great to put aside, as Rock puts it. Meanwhile, Ivypool struggles with the Dark Forest, haunted by its darkness and trying to find out answers: mainly, when the battle of the Dark Forest and StarClan will be. Lionblaze still pursues a relationship with Cinderheart, but to no success.