Thursday, March 13, 2014

Review: Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes

Every once in a while I like to read something from our YA collection at the library.  This was actually recommended by an adult patron, and I wanted to see if it was something to recommend to my 13 year old grand-daughter. This one is definitely on the recommended list!
Birk Lake Moon is the story of two boys and the summer they spent next door to each other at Bird Lake.  Mitch Sinclair is living with his rather rigid, not much fun, grandparents while his mother recovers from the trauma of her husband (Mitch's father) having just walked out on them to take up life with a younger girl-friend. No one seems to catch on that Mitch is grieving also. Spencer Stone arrives at his family's lake house several days after Mitch.  The Stones have owned the house for years, but have not returned for about 10 years since Mitch's little brother drowned there.  Spencer's parents aren't sure they can handle the memory, but want to try.  Spencer's little sister provides some delightful and typical little sister humor to the story.

The two boys meet, take a bit of time to decide whether to be friends, and discover that grief and loneliness is better handled with friends to help.   It's a beautiful book, written with great insight into the emotions young people often try to handle without the help of adults who may be too busy handling their own problems.  I think today's adults, both teen aged and older would enjoy this short but stunning novel.

Title: Bird Lake Moon
Author: Kevin Henkes
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (2008), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 192 pages 
Genre: realistic fiction
Subject:  divorce, grief, moving, friendship
Setting: Lake in Wisconsin
Source: Public library

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