Walk Two Moons

Creech, S. (1994). Walk two moons. Joanna Cotler Books. 304 pages. ISBN 9780060560133

Primary genre: realistic fiction

Other elements: family, loss, friendship, humor,

Intended reader age: 8 and up

Synopsis:

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle (just Sal to everyone but Gran) embarks on a journey from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents, following in the footsteps of her missing mother. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her new friend, Phoebe Winterbottom. It is through the telling of Phoebe’s story that Sal is finally able to come to terms with her own story.

Review:

I want to start off by talking about the copy that I own of this book. I bought it used and I believe it was at the local used Downtowne Books, I could be wrong though. So, the former owner made notations, which look like they were meant for a class. There are notes like ‘dialogue’ and ‘foreshadowing.’ But the notes are only located in the first half of the book, so either they never finished reading or like me became too caught up in the story to stop reading for even a second to make another notation. This is usually what happens to me with stories. I spend the first couple of chapters engaging in that higher order reading: highlighting interesting sentences and writing questions and notes in the margins. Usually, halfway through a story though all this stops because by then I am invested in the story and want to find out what happens next.

I think I loved the grandparents most of all in this story. They had such an adorable dynamic, and gave Sal such a great relationship to look up to. Not that her parents did not offer that as well. I think after she came to accept that her mother really was gone, she was able to see really offer readers a look at their relationship. The grandparents just had really great quirks. Grams didn’t flinch when the snake bit her, she said “Huzzah Huzzah” to things that excited her, and she kept Gramps on his toes. Just adorable.

The Mrs. Corpse dynamic had an interesting twist. I think that portion of the story did a great deal to instill in readers that things are not always what they appear. Because Sal was so against hearing about the way that her father met Mrs. Corpse we, as the readers, side with her assumptions and reluctance to hear anything about her as well. We are united in Sal’s thoughts of “how could he” and “so soon after Sal’s mother left.”

Creech has a number of other books and after reading this I would like to check out those other ones. Outside of this one my eye has always been drawn to The Wanderer as well as Absolutely Normal Chaos.