Twice Baked Thursday: Alabama Moon

Title: Alabama Moon

Author: Watt Key
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: September 5th, 2006

Pages: 304

Genre: Adventure/Survival

Audience: Middle Grade

Source: library

Rating: 5 I'd adopt this book & help it adjust to life in society (Randi) 4 I'd help this book find a good home with Randi (Becky)

Goodreads Summary:

I could trap my own food and make my own clothes. I could find my way by the stars and make fire in the rain. Pap said he even figured I could whip somebody three times my size. He wasn’t worried about me.
 
For as long as ten-year-old Moon can remember, he has lived out in the forest in a shelter with his father. They keep to themselves, their only contact with other human beings an occasional trip to the nearest general store. When Moon’s father dies, Moon follows his father’s last instructions: to travel to Alaska to find others like themselves. But Moon is soon caught and entangled in a world he doesn’t know or understand, apparent property of the government he has been avoiding all his life. As the spirited and resourceful Moon encounters constables, jails, institutions, lawyers, true friends, and true enemies, he adapts his wilderness survival skills and learns to survive in the outside world, and even, perhaps, make his home there. 
 
In this compelling, action-packed book, Watt Key gives us the thrilling coming-of-age story of the unique and extremely appealing Moon.

Our Thoughts

Randi in black; Becky in purple.

This is quite possibly my favorite middle grade read. Like, ever. I liked it a lot... can't quite go that far.  Hatchet is better, lol. Moon is such a likable character and you can't help but cheer him on and hope the best for him, even though you're never quite certain what's going to happen next. I did want him to figure things out, but the way he was alway "whipping up" on people annoyed me.  Violence is not the answer little feral boy. (Totally his dad's fault!). I find that middle grade books are sometimes overly predictable, but I didn't see Alabama Moon as predictable in the slightest. It didn't follow a very straightforward plotline, but I knew from the very beginning how it would end. I didn't mind, though, because this book was all about the journey. The characters are well-developed and there is much character growth throughout the novel. Based on the premise and the fact that Moon is only ten, this book could easily have seemed unrealistic, but that is certainly not the case. I found much of it unlikely, but it could happen, lol.  I've never been one to care if something seemed realistic, though, so long as it seems possible within the world-building of the story.  (That's a really good way to put it!) Watt Key has penned an exemplary middle grade novel about a boy who is essentially orphaned nearly from the outset of the book. 

The setting of central (I think) Alabama comes to life through the description of the woods and Moon's knowledge of living in the wild. Chewing on cattail roots and eating snakes stuffed with roasted acorns sounded pretty awesome.  Not gonna lie. (HAHAHA, this from the girl who hates hunting!) ;) He'd be doing the hunting...obviously haha Moon constantly demonstrates his vast array of skills from hunting and fishing to building shelter, snares, and keeping himself clothed and fed. I would have loved more detail in that area.  I wanted to see how exactly he caught animals and made the clothes. (That would've been awesome!)  He has had very little interaction with people other than his Pap and the occasional trip to Mr. Abroscotto's store, so his violent reactions to outsiders, especially those he sees as a threat to his way of life (which, at the beginning, is pretty much everyone) rings true. True, yet annoying lol.  I couldn't quite buy how easily he whipped everyone.  I'm pretty sure law enforcement can deal with a violent kid, even if he did have the element of surprise. The bad guy of this story, Constable Sanders, is the bad guy you love to hate. Yup.  Get 'em! His actions toward Moon are incredibly disturbing and it makes you want to stand up and protect Moon. The man treats Moon like an animal when Moon is just trying to protect himself.  I wanted more backstory for Sanders.  Why was he so crazy?  The story could have been stronger here. (I just attributed it so his ignorance, as mentioned by some of the other characters, but some more background info would've been nice. Especially considering he's a judge's son. You'd think he'd have some concept of the law...but then again, he seems like one of those asinine human beings who thinks he's above the law.) I found Hal's character growth very interesting, and though it might seem unrealistic at times, the way he is written makes everything fit together - it makes sense. I'm not going to say much more about characters since we do see a lot of growth - I don't want to ruin it for anyone!

The clash between societal expectations and Moon and his Pap's "living off the land" lifestyle is the biggest and, at times, the most heartbreaking theme of the story. Though I wasn't fond of Pap, I did cry toward the end of the book. And when you find out what led him to choose a life away from the rest of society, you really feel for his character.  I felt for him, but a better solution would obviously have been to seek therapy.  He did end up indirectly killing his wife and himself, and putting his son in danger.  Although I love survival stories, I prefer accidental ones.  Anyone who would willingly endanger themselves or their families so they don't "owe anyone" strike me as unforgivably idiotic. 

This is a beautifully written middle grade coming-of-age tale that I think will really resonate with middle grade readers, but that has great appeal for young adult readers as well as adults. It's a timeless middle grade book that I really hope to be able to use in my classroom. Though I liked Hatchet by Gary Paulsen as far as survival stories go, I find this book even more intriguing and heartfelt. I feel very much the opposite. Hatchet was my holy grail and ever shall be.  I find the accidental nature of his wilderness survival easier to buy and care about. (Blasphemy!) ;) It's in a different key (obviously in Hatchet you have a boy from civilization trying to live off the land after a plane crash, and here we have a boy raised in the wilderness trying to navigate a society he's never experienced), but somehow I relate even more to Moon and his plight than I did with Brian from Paulsen's book.  I found Moon's lack of social skills and inability to comprehend laws fairly annoying, so Brian was easier for me to relate to.  But I liked this book too;  it's an interesting flipside. Even if you don't typically read middle grade books (or survival/adventure for that matter), please give this one a try! You won't regret it.