Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy

by Jacqueline Woodson Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Overview

laurel would do anything to turn back time-to tell her mother and grandmother not to stay home near the beach with a hurricane coming

to say no when her boyfriend, T-Boom, the co-captain of the basketball team, offers her that first hit of moon-the drug that makes her feel bigger than all she's lost

to have been there for her little brother and her best friend, Kaylee, when they needed her, instead of chasing the moon

But she can't.

All she can do is move forward now. And only she can decide whether to face the pain and joy that is a part of living, or follow the moon to numbness and probably death. Only she can decide to choose to be there for her family and friends-or give them another thing to grieve.

Kaylee says, "Write an elegy to the past...and move on." She says it's all about moving on....

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Fifteen-year-old ex-meth addict Laurel is writing an “elegy to the past” in an attempt to recover her life. After her mother and grandmother die in Hurricane Katrina, Laurel, her father, and her younger brother, Jesse Jr., move from their temporary new home in Jackson, Miss., to Galilee, Iowa, for a fresh start. Laurel makes a new friend, joins the cheerleading squad, and begins dating star athlete T-Boom, but she is still bereft over her lost family. When T-Boom offers her a taste of “the moon” (meth), her sadness evaporates. “Thing about the moon is—it takes you deeper,” Laurel says. “Deeper than you’d go on your own.” She quickly becomes addicted, neglects her friends and family, and winds up begging on the street in pursuit of more. Woodson’s (Peace, Locomotion) dreamlike story is constructed of Laurel’s patchy memories peppered with the voices of expertly sketched characters and rich with writerly observations. While readers know that Laurel survives, Woodson maintains tension throughout, making it abundantly clear how easy it is to succumb to meth and how difficult it is to recover from it. Ages 12–up. (Feb.)

Booklist

Will not disappoint readers. . . . Ends on a hopeful note: perhaps it is possible to write pain 'into the past and leave some of it there,' and reimagine a future.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

As accurate as it is heartbreaking; readers will be deeply moved . . . they'll sympathize with [Laurel's] desire to find some way to feel better. . . . Readers looking to understand the attraction of a destructive substance will get a glimmer of understanding.

The Horn Book

Woodson takes us on the dark journey of addiction, mimicking the slow, hazy spell of drug use with the lull of her poetic prose. . . . Laurel's descent is brutally honest. . . . An intimate and compelling story of survival.

Children's Literature - Kathleen Monks

"With the moon inside of me, the walk wouldn't be cold, the night wouldn't be dark." These are the words of young Laurel, a fifteen-year-old meth addict. Laurel turns to "the moon," her word for meth, as a method for coping with the pain of losing her mother and grandmother to hurricane Katrina. In Woodson's beautiful and tragic novel, we follow Laurel's path from cheerleader to meth addict to struggling survivor. Aided by a realistic tone and masterful prose, Woodson connects with her readers and keeps them engaged. Her heart-wrenching depiction of drug addiction seen through the eyes of an American teenager is poignant. Written in the form of a personal journal, this young adult novel is divided into sections, most frequently spanning three to ten pages. Young readers and adults will be drawn to the books ability to communicate the unflinchingly honest—and all too common—path of youth drug addiction as well as the arduous journey to reclaim a drug free life. Woodson's book would be valuable as a discussion starter at home and in classrooms. For these reasons, this book would be an excellent choice for any collection that serves young adults. Reviewer: Kathleen Monks

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—This powerful, stripped-down novel chronicles a girl's journey from popular cheerleader to homeless meth user to recovering addict. When her mother and grandmother perish in Hurricane Katrina, Laurel's idyllic childhood in Pass Christian, MS, abruptly ends. After living with relatives for two years, she relocates to Iowa with her father and younger brother. There, she falls in love with basketball co-captain T-Boom, who introduces her to meth, or "moon." The novel's real romance is between Laurel and the drug; the euphoria she experiences while high fills a void inside her and helps her forget all she has lost. Her other relationships crumble away as addiction takes over her life. A poignant friendship with a street artist reawakens Laurel's desire for human connections and propels her toward recovery. The narrative, which is full of rich, sensory images, jumps between the present day, Laurel's childhood memories, and scenes from rehab, giving the story a dreamlike quality. Though this is a gentler read, it would be a natural choice for fans of Go Ask Alice (Prentice Hall, 1971) or Ellen Hopkins's Crank (S & S, 2004). An outstanding novel that succeeds on every level.—Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172588624
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	11/15/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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