A Newbery Award Winning Book

Walk Two Moons

By: Sharon Creech

Genre:  Juvenile fiction

Pages: 280

Published: 1996

Read: November

4 out of 5

Salamanca “Sal” Tree Hiddle travels with her grandparents from Ohio to Idaho to visit her mother’s grave. Throughout her journey, she learns a lot about herself, her mother, and her grandparents. It is a great coming-of-age story that teaches some important lessons applicable to everyone. What I liked about it most was that every age and gender can appreciate the story. My only criticism is that there is so much mystery and adventuristic tales it dilutes the realistic aspect of Sal’s stories. As a side note, my personal thoughts about Newbery Award winning books – I usually don’t like them. As a Teen Librarian, I also notice they just sit on the shelf and look awfully sad. Newberys are chosen by adults and the criteria is on the quality of writing, development of plot and symbolism. As long as age appropriate, the appeal to the audience is not a consideration. This is not a necessarily a bad thing, just usually means the books aren’t as popular with readers as one expects for an award winning book. Walk Two Moons is one of the few exceptions for me – not only does it have the required criteria it also has a very enjoyable story. If you want a more popular and entertaining award-winning book – check out the Rebecca Caudill award winners which is another award Walk Two Moons (along with several other Sharon Creech) has won..