Walk two Moons

by Sharon Creech
Published by Harper Collins Children's Books 1994
280 Pages
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Reading Level: 4-6
Newberry Winner

Summary:
This book is quite intricate. We begin and find ourselves in the middle of three different stories. The base story is we find thirteen year old Salamanca(Sal) and her grandparents on their way to Idaho to visit her mother and hopefully bring her home. Sal's mother left for Idaho in search for herself. She believed herself wanting when it came to being a mother and a wife. Sal's never understood why she felt that way, but her mother left any way, without saying good bye, she only left a loving note for Sal and her father explaning where she had gone and when she hoped to return. So as Sal is on this journey to find her mother, the long drive prompts her to tell the story of her friend Phebe and how her mother left her as well. As we here the story about Phebe, they stop on the side of the road to help strangers and take brakes. However as Phebe's story is being told one day they stop to put their feet in the river and Sal's grandmother is bitten by a water moccasin. They rush her to the hospital and stay over night making sure Sal's grandmother is stable. The next day her grandmother comes flying out of her room, "let's get on the road!" so they continue on. As Phebe's story comes to a close we start putting pieces together about the story of Sal's mother. Their family had lived out in the county and had beautiful trees and space to run. Sal's parents dreamed of filling their home with children, but when Sal's mother gives birth to a still-born and she loses her ability to have children their lives spin out of control. This is when Sal's mother decided it was time to try to find what she was missing. But as she drives on the long bus ride to Idaho she sees how much she misses her family and sends postcards and letters. As Sal takes the trip with her grandparents she sees all that her mother had writen about on her postcards. However, we find that the reason Sal knows Phebe, is her father moved her into town and he had taken interest in a woman named Margret. However, every time her father tries to explain why he spends so much time with Margret she will not hear it. As the trip nears the end, Sal's grandma slides into a comma as they get within 100 miles of their destination. Her grandpa having taught Sal how to drive the car on the farm tells her to take the car and go while he stays with Grandma in the hospital. Sal takes the car and drives out on the twisting highway until the sun is about to come up and then she pulls over to the shoulder looking over the edge of the road into a ravine she sees a bus. She climbs down the hill and into the bus that is on it's side with its windows busted out and a large hole in the side. They say only one person survived the accident. She begins to search for anything that will remind her of her mother. As she crawls out of the bus without anything she sees the police car that had pulled up behind her grandpa's car. She meets the man and as he learns she is only thirteen and she drove to the accident sight by herself, he puts her in the back of his car and asks why she is here. She tells him the story of how Gran is in the hospital. After which she tells the officer the stroy of how her mother had traveled up to Idaho and died last year in the bus accident. The officer takes her to the nearest town where she can go to her mother's grave and understand that her mother is not coming back. The officer takes her back to the hospital where she finds her grandmother has passed away and she and her grandpa are alone. They drive home and bury her Grandma in the grove of trees where she was married to Gramps and their family is able to heal as they understand the loss in death but the beauty of life and those around them. Once Sal gets home her mother tells her why he has been spending so much time with Margret. She had been the only surviver on the bus and she had been sitting next to Sal's mother the whole week they spent driving to Idaho. He spent time with her because they could relate and she would tell him all the things that Sal's mother talked about on their trip. But eventually they were able to move back to thier home in the country and enjoy the memories of her mother together.

My Reaction:
I cried! This book was so touching it was hard for me not to. I really felt touched and the mystery that opened in front of me was amazing as I realized what a small world we live in and that our stories are very similar to others out there. I did have a hard time getting into the story for a little bit because there were so many different things going on, but by the end I really liked it. It was very touching and made me see how precious life is. It was a hard but very good read.

Potential Problems:
Well, this book has a lot of difficult subjects all tied into one. First, abandonment and possiblities of devorce. As well as possible adultry. Next, Phebe and Sal talk about murder and theft a lot. Also we have a little love story going on with Sal and she is only thirteen. These all could be touchy subjects for parents.

Recommendations:
I think any child who feels they have been abandoned or have lost a parent could find comfort in this book. It does not make light of these subjects but brings them to the readers attention in a comforting way. I think it's a very good read and may help children work through it.