Walk Two Moons

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Months after her mother leaves, promising to return in time for the tulips to bloom, thirteen-year-old Salamanca and her father leave their home in Kentucky and head to Euclid, Ohio. There Sal befriends Phoebe Winterbottom, her fellow classmate and the neighbor of Sal’s father’s friend Mrs. Cadaver.
The school year passes and Sal goes with her grandparents on a cross country trip to where her mother is in Idaho, hoping to arrive before her mother’s birthday and bring her home. On this trip Sal shares the story of Phoebe and the disappearance of her own mother, while coming to terms with the events of the previous year and a half.

Likes
Creech expertly weaves the three stories together: Sal’s life in Kentucky before her mother’s departure, her life in Ohio and Phoebe’s tale, and the trip from Ohio to Idaho.

The relationships between the characters are exquisitely written. I could imagine these people as being real.

The scenery is magnificently drawn. I felt that I could close my eyes and see Sal and her grandparents sitting in the river or Sal’s mother picking blackberries on their farm.

This is a beautiful novel that sticks with you, enticing a myriad of emotions throughout.

I finished listening to this book on my morning commute. It was extremely hard to keep the tears from flowing freely, even though I had guessed what was going to happen.  This is a mark of an excellent novel.

Dislikes
I listened to the book on CD. My only real dislike was of the narrator. There was a particular quality that she gave to most character’s voices that rather grated my nerves.

Other
Won the 1995 Newbery Medal
Number 68 on the Top 100 Children’s Novels