Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Reviewed by JenniferRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
1995 Newbery Medal Winner
Ratings Explanation
Language: “Lordy”, OMG, helluva, and several swear words.
Sexual Content: Ben and Sal kiss, Phoebe’s mom kisses The Lunatic. The word “sex” is used twice.
Adult Themes: Sal’s mother looses a baby and Sal feels responsible. Following the still birth, her mother has two operations and says, “They took out all my equipment.” After losing the baby, her mother goes to Idaho and doesn’t come back. Sal feels abandoned. Phoebe’s mother disappears for a couple of weeks. Phoebe is upset and worried since they don’t know where she has gone and when, or if, she is coming back. Death of a loved one.
Synopsis
One Spring morning 13-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle’s mother boarded a bus headed for Idaho, promising to return before the tulips bloomed. Now the tulips have long since withered and her mother has not yet returned. Determined to bring her mother home where she belongs, Sal embarks on a cross country journey with her endearingly eccentric grandparents.
To pass the time (and listen to Gram and Gramps less), Sal “spins the yarn” of her friend Phoebe Winterbottom’s missing mother, the lunatic, and the cryptic notes left on the Winterbottom’s doorstep. Sal’s journey of discovery, loss and love intertwine with Phoebe’s story, producing a moving story within a story.
This is our latest read-aloud success story. When the kids are begging for one more chapter over and over each night, it is obviously a winner.
One of my favorite things about Sharon Creech is that she can really turn a phrase. One of my personal favorites said by Gram, “Being a mother is like trying to hold a wolf by the ears. If you have three or four – or more- chickabiddies, you’re dancing on a hot griddle all the time. You don’t have time to think about anything else. And if you’ve only got one or two, it’s almost harder. You have room left over – empty spaces that you think you’ve got to fill up.” Gram also says, “Huzza, huzza” when she likes something. I just might adopt that one into my own vocabulary.
Our family laughed, cried and worried through this story, and loved every minute of it.