Beneath a Meth Moon ~ Ms. Richards' Reads

Citation

Woodson, J. (2012). Beneath a meth moon. New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen Books.

Description

Laurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she’s still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel’s new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past.

When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she’s able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction.

Incorporating Laurel’s bittersweet memories of life before and during the hurricane, this is a stunning novel by one of our finest writers. Jacqueline Woodson’s haunting – but ultimately hopeful – story is beautifully told and one readers will not want to miss.

Realistic Fiction

Scholarly Review

Two years after Hurricane Katrina takes Laurel's mother and grandmother, she, her father, and brother move to Iowa, where she finds new friends and a boyfriend - and meth. Laurel's descent into addiction is brutally honest and narrated in her lilting, Southern cadence. Linking the large scale tragedies of Katrina and drug addiction, the novel tells an intimate and compelling story of survival.

[The Horn Book Guide Review, 2012]

My Analysis

This book is told from Laurel Daneau’s perspective as she becomes addicted to the “moon” (meth). The book is only 182 pages with larger print, so it was a fast read. I enjoyed the story of Laurel’s journey from addiction to sobriety with flashbacks to the story of how her mother and grandmother died in Hurricane Katrina. However, I felt like there was hardly any character development and that the book could have been longer. Because of this, the book didn’t hook me in like I thought it would based on Jacqueline Woodson’s reputation. I would have loved to read more about her relationships and to have seen more of her struggle.