Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson
pages: 182
released: February 2012
publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
cover love: ♥♥

Laurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she’s still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel’s new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past. When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she’s able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction. (from Goodreads)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 5/18/2012 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET

Review:

After Hurricane Katrina takes her mama and grandma away forever, her father moves Laurel and her brother away from Mississippi for a fresh start in a small town called Galilee. She becomes a cheerleader and meets T-Boom, a hot basketball player who introduces her to meth. Shortly after trying it, she’s hooked and leaves home for life on the streets, begging for money to buy drugs. She meets a graffiti artist, Moses, who befriends her and uses his kindness to help her out of the darkness before he ends up painting her memorial one day.

This is the first book by Jacqueline Woodson that I’ve read though the author has published over 25 books. It’s a tiny book that I finished in one day that touches on some dark issues such as teens using drugs and homelessness. I was impressed with Woodson’s ability to write about such topics without using explicit language or graphic situations, which I think is hard to do. Beneath a Meth Moon was told in a very poetic way, the author using water and the moon as themes for Laurel’s fears and drug addiction. The story is told from her perspective, going back and forth from the past–before the hurricane when her family was happy and secure–to the unfairness that split them apart–to her present state of just wanting to be lost in the nothingness.

Though it’s small and leaves out a lot of details, I did enjoy reading Beneath a Meth Moon and thought it was a good book.

3