1995 Newbery winner, Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech is part road trip tale of a girl and her grandparents, part mystery story told along the way. In both, main character Sal goes looking for answers about why her mother left and comes to terms with what happened the year before.
Since this book has a good amount of mysteries in it, it’s going to be hard to talk about it without spoilers. It’s a really good book about grief, and I think that middle school girls would especially connect to it. So go read the book before you read the review for the best reading experience.
What I liked. I thought the ending with all the mysteries revealed about Phoebe’s mother and Sal’s mother was so well done. I love how satisfying the ending of a mystery novel is (even though I cannot do murder part of murder mysteries. Middle grade mysteries are more my style), and this book has really well-paced and satisfying endings for both girls’ stories.
What were some limitations. This is not a limitation in the sense that I didn’t like something, more just a reflection on why such a great book is not in my all time favorites category. I think it’s because there is a lot of catharsis that you experience along with Sal in reading this book. Sal’s grief comes at you slowly and honestly. She misses her mother so much. The story of why her mother left and what happened to her mother in Idaho is heart breaking. And reading the Phoebe story within Sal’s story is part funny and part annoying because Phoebe’s grief comes out in Phoebe being impossible and fairly unlikeable at times. Both responses are such honest, important portrayals of grief. But for me, that makes it a book that I’m glad I have read, but not one that I would re-read often. (Fortunately there are many other Sharon Creech books to read!) And in general, middle grade books about grief I tend to recommend to kids who are a bit older maybe 11 or 12, even if a child’s reading level is higher at a younger age.
What was interesting. A few years after I originally read Walk Two Moons my husband, Evan, was tutoring a fifth grade student who was reading it. The student was telling Evan all about the book, and Evan suggested that Sal had made up Phoebe. He said it sounded like Phoebe was imaginary to help Sal explain to her grandparents what had happened. “Oh no!” the student said, “Phoebe could NOT be imaginary.” She was definite on that point. He mentioned it to me, and it had been long enough since I read the book that I couldn’t be sure either way. Although my gut was to side with the student. So now, many years later, I re-read the book with an eye towards Phoebe’s status as imaginary. Was Phoebe only around Sal? Did Phoebe talk to other people than Sal?
On the side of Evan’s imaginary theory is how we first hear Sal talk about Phoebe when her grandparents ask for a story.
Gramps said, “Well then, what about your friends? You got any tales to tell about them?
Instantly Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. There was certainly a hog’s belly full of things to tell about her. “I could tell you an extensively strange story,” I warned.
“Oh Good!” Gram said. “Delicious!”
And that is how I happened to suspend my tree prayers and tell them about Phoebe Winterbottom, her disappearing mother, and the lunitic.
Walk Two Moons, page 9.
Also Phoebe’s story is pretty bananas, and she’s really annoying at times.
But Phoebe did talk to other people. At first it was mainly people at school or in the neighborhood, but eventually she has a few words exchanged with Sal’s father. And then at the end of the book, Phoebe and Ben and Mrs. Cadaver are all about to come for a visit.
So, on the whole, I do NOT think Phoebe was written to be just imaginary–although she certainly functions as a flamboyant story that Sal is telling her grandparents and coming to terms with her own mother leaving. I think if Sharon Creech had written this book more as a novella, the sort of longer short story that ends up in high school English anthologies, there would not need to be too many alterations to make Phoebe imaginary. But I think Sharon Creech for this middle grade book wanted to be more explicit with her audience. Towards the end of the book, Sal’s reflections on Phoebe show that.
Gram said, “You liked Peeby, didn’t you Salamanca?
I did like Phoebe. In spite of all her wild tales and her cholesterol-madness and her annoying comments, there was something about Phoebe that was like a magnet. I was drawn to her. I was someone pretty sure that underneath all that odd behavior was someone who was frightened. And, in a strange way, she was like another version of me–she acted out the way I sometimes felt.”
Walk Two Moons, page 189
Or at the very end of the book, she refers to how “the fireplace was behind the plaster wall and my story was behind Phebe’s” (p. 274). So on the whole, I think that Evan’s sweet student was right. (I’m sure she’d appreciate knowing that a decade later. Sometimes, Evan keeps his analytical grad school mind going even when he’s dealing with elementary grade students.)
Similarity to other Newbery winners.
In terms of a story about a girl coming to terms with the death of her mother (or mother-figure) there are quite a few: Up a Road Slowly, Summer of the Swans, A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, Sarah, Plain and Tall , Missing May and Dicey’s Song.
What it teaches me as a writer. I think that Sharon Creech has an ability to be comfortable with an unexplained symbol as well as the ability to unpack it for a young audience at the right time. Her books (and so many of them are so good) have this way of coming together at the end that is so satisfying and moving. I love a good ending, and she does them so well.
Have you read Walk Two Moons? What are your favorite books that have helped you come to terms with grief?
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