Walk Two Moons, written by Sharon Creech, is a heartfelt novel that tells about finding peace in life despite its trials. Young people are the intended audience for this Newberry Award winning book. This book provides a touching read while weaving together two interesting stories. Walk Two Moons can teach us all about how to live life, through its hardships, and its happiness.
Salamanca Tree Hiddle, the 13 year old protagonist in the story, misses her mother. Her mother that left one day for Lewiston, Idaho and did not come back. In the book, Salamanca travels with her grandparents to Lewiston for her mother’s birthday. During the long car ride there, Salamanca tells the story of her interactions with her friend, Phoebe. While the trio travels cross country, they learn important lessons about life and death that apply to all of us.
Walk Two Moons was an intriguing book because it was written in an almost poetic form that provides more substance to the story. This poetic form also creates a more mysterious kind of read, which draws you to the final page. Another thing that made the book enjoyable was the occasional humor, which provides some laughter appeal to the book.
The characters in this story undergo massive changes in their life. The character changes in the story are very real. The main characters seem like actual people that have real trials. Relating to the hardships in the story can be easy for anyone. For example, as Salamanca comes to except the truth about her mother, she must change her heart, mind, and life to fit her new knowledge.
As Salamanca’s mother is a Native American, much of Salamanca’s life is rooted around that culture. She finds a lot of solace in the arms of nature. This theme of nature being almost like a person, is an interesting way the book displays originality. Things such as kissing trees, singing trees, and blackberries, all are symbols of things we need in our life to feel comforted and loved.
My favorite thing about this book was the way it combined two completely different and separate stories into one. While Salamanca and her grandparents have their own adventures on the road, the story of Salamanca’s friend Phoebe, weaves a blanket of lessons that combine into one. One such lesson is about dying, something Salamanca learns in this quote from the book:
“I went barreling on as if it was my poem and I was an expert. ‘The waves, with their 'soft, white hands' grab the traveler. They drown him. They kill him. He's gone.’ Ben said, ‘Maybe he didn't drown. Maybe he just died, like normal people die.’ I said, ‘It isn't normal to die. It isn't normal. It's terrible.’ Ben said, ‘Maybe dying could be normal and terrible.’”(Page 182-183)
Walk Two Moons is a touching and inspiring story, that while we read, like Salamanca, we must decide if death is normal, terrible, or both. This novel stands out because it is a deep, but still easy to read novel. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for just that.
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