Walk Two Moons – Sharon Creech

    "How about a story? Spin us a yarn."
    Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. "I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned.
    "Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!"
    And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic.
    As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold — the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.
    In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.

Re-reads don’t always go well, especially when I’m hand-selecting books that gave me the feels even back when I was a pre-teen, so when I chose to re-read WALK TWO MOONS after 10+ years, of course I was a little nervous. This was one book I read as a kid and immediately fell in love with. It’s something that I kept recommending even as an adult, but obviously tastes change over the years and I wondered if this book still held its weight and significance in my life even as an adult so when the mood struck me one day to finally start my re-read, I knew it was time.

Thankfully, I had nothing to fear. I’ve actually only read one other book from Sharon Creech since my initial read of WALK TWO MOONS back in the day and it was beautiful but not phenomenal so I was a bit scared to re-read, wondering if the book would have lost its magic. The minute I started reading, I was reliving a piece of my childhood. The book brought me right back to where I had hoped it would.

Once again, I fell in love with Sal’s story. I think I connected with it in a whole different way, better understanding why her mother left and how the things in her life really affected her mental state. It’s even more heartbreaking reading it all over again — not only because I already knew the outcome, but because I just was better able to comprehend exactly how complicated Sal’s mother’s life was and how you don’t really understand things like that to their fullest extent when you’re only twelve. Sal knew that something was going on with her mother, but it was hard for her to see exactly how deep that ran, especially when her parents were trying to protect her and hide it from her.

The writing and story telling still felt as magical as when I first read it. I have to admit, I was a bit like Sal with my tendencies to hurry and rush because I was so excited to complete the re-read. I had actually forgotten the big plot points that are revealed in the end so it was exciting that the book was still new to me in that way as well. I cried ugly tears at the very end of this book. I knew how it ended and I had to prepare myself for it but it was a whole other ballgame when I came upon an incident I had forgotten about and I was SO shocked by it. I literally had to go upstairs and pull myself together. I wonder if it just brought so many feelings back from my childhood as well, and that’s why I felt everything in this book so strongly!

Re-read or not, I know that I can recommend this book to anyone now and feel confident that my feelings are still as they once were. I’m still in love with this book and it was so wonderful to reconnect with that point in my childhood again! It really was like coming home.

“The View from Goodreads” is a new featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!

Sal // Character Obsessions: Her mother, Phoebe, the lunatic. 
I was never the new girl like Sal until after I had read this book, but looking back, I feel so bad for her. She was ripped from her home at a really hard time in her life and she had to sort of figure everything out again. Personal lives aside, I still relate to Sal — more our personalities. It was funny to see her really affected by her more outspoken friends, but I realized I do that as well! Our friends really are a big part of our lives.
Phoebe // Character Obsessions: The lunatic, notes, her mother, the norm.
Oh, Phoebe. She inspired a whole story for Sal to tell her grandparents. She was quite a character for sure. I really identified with her in some ways though. It’s hard when things in your family are so structured and then they start to stray from the normal. Although she is a bit more dramatic!

Kept Me Hooked On: Childhood reads. I’ve only reread a few books from my childhood but actually so far… they’ve gone REALLY well. I’m so, so happy that WALK TWO MOONS is still as great as I remember it.
Left Me Wanting More: Patience. I wanted to badly to eat this book up that I rushed through it. I think it’s easier to skip over things in middle grade books because the language is a bit simpler. I tried to make myself slow down but I just raced straight through it.

Addiction Rating
Read it!

Whether it’s a re-read or a first time read, I still highly recommend this book! If it wasn’t a part of your childhood, make it a part of your adult life.

(Click the cover to see my review!)