| Book Review: Walk Two Moons By: Alison Moore Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech, is the 1995 winner of the Newbery Medal and an excellent novel for young people of any background. It is the moving story of Salamanca “Sal” Hiddle, an independent and introspective young girl trying to find herself amidst tremendous life changes. The novel begins with Sal taking a cross-country road trip with her grandparents, tracing the route Sal’s mother took after leaving the family the year before. During the drive, Sal recalls memories of growing up on a Kentucky farm, contemplates her present living circumstances in suburban Ohio, and tells her grandparents the tale of her friend Phoebe Winterbottom. Sal soon comes to the realization that hidden beneath Phoebe’s story is her own story, and as she travels across the United States, Sal begins to come to terms with the emotional struggles she has faced over the past year. I greatly enjoyed Walk Two Moons when I was teenager, and perhaps even more when I read it again recently. Creech’s descriptions of the peculiar cast of characters that Sal comes into contact with in her new environment are funny and thoughtful; each new person that Sal meets teaches her an important lesson that she uses on her path towards self- discovery. As Sal cautiously grows closer towards new acquaintances, and rebuilds broken connections within her family, she sees that appearances can be deceiving and certain truths are universal. Sal learns that you must never judge someone ‘until you have walked two moons in their moccasins’—whether that person is your friend, your mother, or a stranger— and that one can find love and understanding in unexpected places. This novel is one that will both engage you completely and also stop you in your tracks with its simple but meaningful observations on life. As eager as I was to finish the story and learn what happened to Sal, her family and friends, I also had the impulse to stop at the end of each chapter and muse over details and little nuggets of wisdom I had just absorbed. Sal’s memories of her mother, her relationship with her unsophisticated but genuine and lively grandparents, her love for nature and the farm where she grew up, and her cautious attitude towards opening her heart to her new surroundings, all bring Sal to life, and make her seem like a real person. Creech’s beautiful, poignant prose, and the way she skillfully weaves several stories into one intricate and stunning web, will trap you within the novel until the very end. As Sal’s Gram would say, this is a ‘delicious’ story, and one that should be savored and remembered and returned to, again and again. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |