Walk Two Moons [Paperback]

Sharon Creech (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 27, 2011 | Age Range: 8 and up | Series: Trophy Newbery | Lexile Measure: 770L (What's this?)

"How about a story? Spin us a yarn."
Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. "I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned.
"Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!"
And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic.

As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold--the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother. Walk Two Moons won the 1995 Newbery Medal. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-An engaging story of love and loss, told with humor and suspense. Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother leaves home suddenly on a spiritual quest, vowing to return, but can't keep her promise. The girl and her father leave their farm in Kentucky and move to Ohio, where Sal meets Phoebe Winterbottom, also 13. While Sal accompanies her eccentric grandparents on a six-day drive to Idaho to retrace her mother's route, she entertains them with the tale of Phoebe, whose mother has also left home. While this story-within-a-story is a potentially difficult device, in the hands of this capable author it works well to create suspense, keep readers' interest, and draw parallels between the situations and reactions of the two girls. Sal's emotional journey through the grieving process-from denial to anger and finally to acceptance-is depicted realistically and with feeling. Indeed, her initial confusion and repression of the truth are mirrored in the book. Overall, a richly layered novel about real and metaphorical journeys.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (December 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064405176
• ISBN-13: 978-0064405171
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (861 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #81 in Books > Children's Books > Classics

More About the Author

Sharon Creech is the author of the Newbery Medal winner Walk Two Moons and the Newbery Honor Book The Wanderer. Her other work includes the novels Hate That Cat, The Castle Corona, Replay, Heartbeat, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Ruby Holler, Love That Dog, Bloomability, Absolutely Normal Chaos, Chasing Redbird, and Pleasing the Ghost, as well as three picture books: A Fine, Fine School; Fishing in the Air; and Who's That Baby? Ms. Creech and her husband live in upstate New York.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

118 of 132 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another piece of advice: Don't judge a book by its cover March 7, 2004

By E. R. Bird HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

I wasn't paying attention to the Newbery debates the year "Walk Two Moons" won. In my own humble opinion, after reading this book, I can't imagine how any other was even seriously considered a contender. "Walk Two Moons" is a book as infinitely wise as it is funny. The rare book that can serve up a rousing good story while teaching you a little about the very nature of life, death, loving and grieving. This is a book ostensibly written for children but so incredibly mature that after finishing it you just sit staring at the picture of author Sharon Creech on the book flap thinking over and over in your head, "How did she do it? How did she do it? How did she do it?"

"Walk Two Moons" follows the tales and travels of Salamanca (Sal) Tree Hiddle. Traveling with her parents to Idaho in the hopes of bringing her mother back with her, the juggles two storylines simultaneously. On the one hand, we have Sal, trying to deal with the fact that her mother left her. On the other is Sal's story of her friend Pheobe who's own mother up and left her family one day. While dealing with the painfully realistic reactions children have to such departures on the part of their parents, it also gives us glimpses into families that are rock solid in their love and devotion. You have Sal's grandparents that are taking the trip to Idaho with her. As you learn more about them, you realize how wonderful and tragic their life has been, with a deep abiding love. Also, Sal's friend Mary Lou's family is a rambunctious crew of crazy wonderful people, always messy and always affectionate.

Just describing the plot of this book really doesn't do it any justice. There are just so many things to admire about it. Through her narrator Creech somehow is able to convey a wisdom that goes beyond Sal's own understandings and words. Moreover, though Sal is perhaps one of the sanest people in this story, she is also an incredibly unreliable narrator. I admit, the ending caught me completely off guard. I should have seen it coming, and I didn't. This is the kind of book where you have to read it all the way through once, and then read it all the way through a second time just to pick up all the tiny clues you missed the first time. Along the way, everything from the heart of life to the despair of death is explored carefully and respectfully. Creech is able to repeatedly bring up the motif of "Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins", without ever becoming preachy or didactic. How does she do it? How is this amazing author able to tie every little metaphor and plot point up so perfectly by the book's end?

Critics of the book like to dismiss it for a variety of sins. They claim it hasn't any strong female characters. Apparently Mary Lou's working mom doesn't count. Nor Pheobe's neighbor, a woman who had to deal with the death of her husband and blindness of her mother all on her own. Nor, for that matter, Sal herself. An amazingly capable young woman who is not perfect, but contains all the qualities of a person learning what life is all about. Critics also claim the book is dull. Sorry, folks. It ain't. The book does not suffer from pages of descriptive passages. The characters speak with zing and verve. The plot is fascinating.

I have only ever read two Newbery winners that I truly felt were some of the best children's books ever written. The first was Louis Sacher's "Holes". The second was Sharon Creech's "Walk Two Moons". If you ever read two books intended for kids, I suggest you pick these two without hesitation. Generations from now they will remain the most beloved of this day and age.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for Readers Willing to Go Where it Takes Them August 15, 2001

By kelzbelz

Format:Paperback

This book is a beautiful story about an amazing girl. It is a multitude of stories woven into one another. The first time I read this book I was thirteen and I laughed and cried as I read it. Now I am sixteen and I read the book again recently. It didn't hit me as hard, but it still moved me. You don't have to have tragedy going on in your life to understand Salamanca (the main character), especially if you're just starting your teen years. You see, Walk Two Moons is about growing up. It's about leaving the fairy world that you live in and beginning to understand things about the world that are difficult to accept. Salamanca is being forced out of the safety, and blind contentment of childhood. We all go through it. For her, it was the disappearance of her mother. Maybe for us it was something smaller and more trivial. Either way, the idea is the same.

It's a very real story. It doesn't paint women as people who always do right and are perfect. I'm glad it doesn't! Sharon Creech has created some fascinating, wonderfully flawed women who have made mistakes, and experienced hard times, but are still good people. And Salamanca Tree Hiddle, our main character, is a truly insipiring, intelligent, interesting, and amazing girl. Reading this a sixteen year old I realized what a well written, engaging story Walk Two Moons is. However, at a younger age, the story did something more meaningful. It made me realize that there were people out ther feeling, on some level, the things that I was feeling. I recommend this for 12, 13, 14 year olds. It may mean the most to them. But it is a terrific story, and I'm sure entertaining for people of many ages.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Take a cross-country trip with a very special young girl. September 22, 2009

By Cathy G. Cole TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Salamanca Tree Hiddle's grandparents have agreed to take her on a cross-country trip to Idaho to see her mother. About a year ago, Sal's mother left their farm in Kentucky, telling everyone she needed to find herself. For a while, Sal received postcards from her mother, but when they stopped arriving it's as if Sal's life has been put on hold.

She hates her new life in Ohio, and hasn't made many friends in school. She certainly doesn't like her father's new friend, Mrs. Margaret Cadaver! As she and her grandparents set out on the trip to Idaho, the old couple ask Sal to tell them stories. The stories Sal tells are about her classmate, Phoebe Winterbottom, and it's strange, but as Sal talks about Phoebe and her family not only do things become clearer about her friend...they become clearer about herself and her own family.

Sal's voice is so winning in Walk Two Moons that I could sit and listen to her tell an endless number of stories. She tells the truth even when she puts herself in a bad light. By the time Sal and her grandparents reach Idaho, the young girl's going to have some growing up to do, but after reading this book, I know she's going to be just fine.

Walk Two Moons won the Newbery Medal in 1995. In my experience, it's the only book award that hasn't steered me wrong. If you're in the mood for a fast-paced book about love, loss and the complexity of human emotions and relationships, please read Sharon Creech's moving book. Sal's a very special young girl.