A Girl, a Racoon, and the Midnight Moon
by Karen Romano Young
Published: 01/07/2020
Synopsis
Pearl Moran was born in the Lancaster Avenue Branch of the New York City Library. Raised by a single mother, Pearl has grown up surrounded by the faculty of the library as part of her family while listening to her mother tell stories of reading raccoons. One morning, as Pearl went to open an office window to let sun from the back courtyard into the library, Pearl was horrified to find the head from a statue of Edna St. Vincent Millay, a granite statue in the courtyard had been stolen. With the events that follow, the library's fate falls into peril and Pearl takes it upon herself to save it. One part mystery, one part coming of age story, and one part a story about stories, the author takes you along as Pearl learns more about herself, those around her, and what she will do to save what she loves.
CAWPILE Rating
Characters: 9/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Writing: 8/10
Plot: 5/10
Intrigue: 3/10
Logic: 10/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Total CAWPILE Score: 7.29/10
Rating: 4 🌟
Thoughts
My 10-year-old, fifth-grader and I read this book for his school reader. As a parent, I appreciated many of the lessons within this story. Exploring important topics such as homelessness, city budgeting, parenting, and so much more through the use of sidebars, I found this story to be far more than your typical middle-grade reader. It truly brought many important topics to life in a fun and interesting way.
In terms of the story itself, the characters were very memorable. My favorite character in the book was the mom, of course, while my son loved the character Mr. Nichols. Each character was memorable and distinct. We also both enjoyed hearing about the library and the neighborhood. The author did a fantastic job describing the wrought iron, spiral staircase, and other features within the library. We felt as if we really could've been there. The writing was good. As a story written for middle-grade children, the writing fit the audience by being clear and understandable while still illustrating a rich story. I think the biggest issue I had with this book was the plot's pacing. For me, the story went a bit long but ultimately, my son said it wasn't long enough. I also appreciated that each section of the book was broken down by what point in the plot, the section was in. For example, part one is called The Turning Point and part two is called The Plot Thickens. By breaking up the sections based on points in the plot, the child can easily understand how the story is progressing in real-time. This is especially true if they are studying narrative writing while reading this book. I did find that had this not been for a school assignment, we probably wouldn't have finished it, but I feel as if that were more because of our schedules and the long periods in between reading the story and not because we didn't enjoy reading it. Overall, I did enjoy the story and I did feel an emotional connection to the characters by the end, which allowed me to enjoy the story to its fullest.
My son's overall opinion was that the book was exciting to listen to (I narrated aloud to him). He really enjoyed the plot twists, and he was satisfied with the ending. I think that's the best endorsement I could ask for.
Until next time, friends,
The Litterature
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