Shadow Of The Red Moon (Point Fantasy) [Mass Market Paperback]

Walter Dean Myers (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Series: Point Fantasy

Hating to leave his family behind but determined to preserve the Okalian way of life, Jon ventures outside of the Crystal City walls and seeks the Ancient Land past the dangerous Wilderness. Reprint. AB. SLJ. K. "

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9?The Okalians have survived a meteor collision and a long exile from their homeland, and now face certain annihilation at the hands of the Fens, a group of marauding children. Jon, a 15-year-old Okalian, is sent by his parents into the Wilderness to return to the Ancient Land and restore their race to its former greatness. On his journey he teams up with a young girl, her brother, and a black unicorn. Using spare prose and lean characters, Myers masterfully creates a world in which adults are nearly nonexistent and children struggle to establish a life for themselves. They face endless dangers in their environment, including the temptation to escape reality. Forced to redefine a world gone wrong, they return to ancient traditions and values, and ultimately learn to see beyond human differences. YAs will enjoy the fantasy and adventure, while mature readers will recognize the story's vivid parallels with modern society. While this tale is narrated in gray and somber tones, in the end the meteor dust is settling, and the red moon offers a beam of hope.?Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-10. Part fable, part fantasy and survival adventure, this tells the story of 15-year-old Jon and a group of young people who are sent out from their besieged Crystal City to find their way through the Wilderness and past their dangerous enemies back to the Ancient Land to make a new start for their people. Their quest is your usual perilous adventure: they free a unicorn, run from a pack of blind dogs, resist the lure of a comfortable, drugged trap, bond with each other, and struggle over the mountains. The surprise is that they also bond with the enemy. In a beautiful, poignant ending, they discover that the enemy, whom they have been taught to fear as uncivilized marauders, is just like "us." Together the ragged bands of kids "make peace with food and with the weather and with each other." The problem is that the very vagueness of the characters, both friend and foe--though it suits the moral ending--makes it hard to care about the conflict in the course of the story. The art was not seen in galley, but the cover illustration of a child huddled in the wilderness is extraordinarily moving. Hazel Rochman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590458965
• ISBN-13: 978-0590458962
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Walter Dean Myers is a New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author who has garnered much respect and admiration for his fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for young people. Winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award, he is considered one of the preeminent writers for children. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, June 30, 2008

By 

Michael "Michael" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadow of the Red Moon (Mass Market Paperback)

Let me start off by saying that this book isn't like Walter Dean Myer's other books. Rather than being a story about urban life, this is a fantasy story that definitely takes place on another planet.

My first encounter with the book left me feeling moved from the cover illustration (my edition of the book has a boy curled up in the wilderness against a red moon) and the title was moving too. I know they tell you not to judge a book by it's cover, but I was pretty convinced that this was a good book by that point. And you know what? I was right.

In response to one of the reviewers here who claims that the book had boring parts, I say that I haven't found any boring parts. Even from the beginning of the book (which DID come with a bang!) I was feeling for the characters. The parts without action are when the main character is thinking about his past and therefore revealing more to the reader, or when the characters are bonding, and I always found that to be enjoyable to read.

I'm not sure what age group this book can be placed in. The delivery (vocabulary, grammar, etc.) is simple enough for a twelve year old to read, and that's how old I was the first time I read the book. However, upon re-reading the book at fifteen, I found that I could understand the book much better, and therefore become emotionally attached to it. I wouldn't say that the subject matter is for young kids. To me, any book dealing with the apocalypse, the plague, abandoned children, suffering and even a little bit of drugs isn't for kids.

Shadow of the Red Moon might be a little bit short, and I'm fully aware that Walter Dean Myers has written books that the critics have received better. But Shadow of the Red Moon certainly does not deserve to be out of print. It is an excellent book. To any Walter Dean Myers fan and even any fantasy fan, this book deserves a read from you. It might have been better if you had bought it while it was in print, because then we might have received an update on what the main characters are up to these days, but buy it anyways. You won't be disappointed!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These audio tapes are superb., February 22, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Shadow of the Red Moon ( Audiobook ) (Audio Cassette)

I have listen to Emelia Earhart one,Searching for Davids Heart,nd right now this one. They are excellent!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shadow of the Red Moon, December 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadow Of The Red Moon (Point Fantasy) (Mass Market Paperback)

The book Shadow of the Red Moon by Walter Dean Myers was a book I don't recommend. That is because Walter Dean Myers I think is a better writer when he writes about the inner city urban community. This book had its ups and it had its downs. At some parts there would be a lot of action and at other you would get bored really easy. Myers made it unique making Jon be half Fen and half Okalian. He was half of the enemy and half of the endangered race of humans. The beginning came with a bang and made you want to read more which I liked a lot but after a little bit it would start going from action to boring and back to action then boring. I thought the book was really weird to do that. I also thought they should of changed Kyra's name to something else that matched his attitude. Like he said in page eighteen ""Go away!" The boy spit his words out angrily." I didn't agree with most of what the book said. It doesn't relate to one thing of real life because it is a fantasy book about prehistoric people. I definitely don't recommend this book to anyone because it doesn't have an exciting plot. I read this book because the cover persuaded me it looked like the name and the illustration had a powerful meaning. The book was at sometimes entertaining but I recommend another book that will keep you entertain during the whole time you read the book