Author: Sharon Creech
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Release Date: May 24, 1996
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Length: 280 pages
Source: Library
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads
"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.
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech goes to show that a book that is written and aimed for young readers in middle school can be just as powerful as a lengthy adult fiction novel. Walk Two Moons can be read by young readers and adult readers alike because the themes throughout can be applied to both children and adults. I wish I would have read this book as a student in middle school because I know it would have spoken to me differently than it did as an adult now.
One of the major themes of Walk Two Moons is loss as in death and grief. We see loss and grief from the perspective of a teenage girl who has lost her mother, we see loss and grief from the perspective of a mother who has lost her baby and we see loss and grief from the perspective of a husband who has lost his wife. We see how each character processes their feelings differently from Sal who doesn’t want to talk about the death of her mother with her father to Sal’s mother who falls into a deep depression and needs to get away after the death of her baby and Sal’s father who moves closer to Mrs. Cadaver because she was with Sal’s mother during her last moments. Walk Two Moons really highlights that grief hits each person differently.
Another major theme throughout Walk Two Moons is fear. We see many of Sal’s fears such as her fear of being in the car and her fear of pregnant women. As the book progresses, Sal learns how to voice these fears instead of keeping them bottled up inside.
Identity is clear throughout Walk Two Moons. Sal is growing up and that always comes with it’s own set of identity issues and “who am I?” questions. Sal’s mother seems to have forgotten who she was before she got married. And she has never felt like she is a true Hiddle because she doesn’t feel as though she is as good as the Hiddle family. Mrs. Witterbottom is also grappling with her identity now that her older son has resurfaced.
A clear strength of Walk Two Moons is themes throughout the book because there are so many and each theme is seen in almost all the characters. This is why this book appeals to both children and adult readers. If I were to teach this book in the classroom, some questions I would use to drive discussions would be: What are the themes throughout this book? What do you think will happen when Sal finds her mother? What does it mean to “know” someone? I chose these questions because they can be asked throughout the whole book without giving away any spoilers.
As a reader, I really enjoyed this book and it really spoke to my mommy heart. I really felt Sal’s mom’s grief and her confusion of her identity because it’s so easy to get lost in motherhood. I think I would like to read it again when my children are older and see what things I pick up on that I didn’t notice the first time through.
