That Girl Lucy Moon

I am picky about children's literature. As a librarian, I have to be. But it also means that I read...a lot. And this little gem of a book is hands down one of my favorites of the year. I have handed it to many children, and no one has been disappointed. Young Lucy is missing her mother, who has left her and her father on an extended road trip. She is a square peg in a round hole and she likes it that way. But is sixth grade ready for Lucy? A delightful read through and through. I true rarity in today's publishing world.

This could be one of my favorite books. This book had a little bit of everything in it. It showed so many sides to Lucy's character and she wasn't just an average junior high girl that always ends up in books. The book also had lot of cliff hangers that made me stay up reading and reading to find out what happens to Lucy next or what new protest idea she came up with this time. There was also some drama of Lucy's mom being gone on a photography journey for almost eight months! It also had romance with her new friend Sam and even some friendship problems with her best friend since forth grade Zoë. This is a great book for girls from about eleven to fourteen.

During the entire time I spent reading THAT GIRL LUCY MOON, I kept having the feeling that Lucy, the main character, was a girl who reminded me of someone else. Some other young girl that I'd read about in another book; someone similar, and yet different. Finally, it came to me. Lucy Moon reminds me of that wonderful free spirit, Stargirl Caraway, from Jerry Spinelli's award-winning young adult novel, Stargirl (Readers Circle). Believe me, this isn't a bad thing. If you've read Stargirl (Readers Circle), you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, that's okay, because you're about to get a big does of free spirit-ism, activism, elitism, and a whole bunch of other -ism's when you dive into your copy of THAT GIRL LUCY MOON. Having just started middle school, Lucy quickly realizes that she's stepped foot on another planet--and that all of her schoolmates have suddenly turned into hormone-driven, soul-spitting aliens. Up until now, Lucy has always been a girl who has known her place in the world, has known her purpose and the things that drive her. She's always known that her parents love her (her mother, the equally free spirited artist, and her father, who can sometimes be distant), that it's her destiny to fight for those who can't fight for themselves, and that her best friend, Zoe, will always be by her side. Lucy's defense of her green and yellow hemp hat is soon forgotten, though, when two kids from her school are arrested for sledding on Wiggins Hill. When the owner of said hill, Miss Ilene Viola Wiggins, goes so far as to put a fence up around the best sledding place in town, some type of action needs to be taken. So begins Lucy's new pursuit--getting her fellow classmates, and the entire town, to see that what Miss Wiggins is doing is wrong. But this activism doesn't immediately win her any friends; she is, in fact, ostracized by her school friends, threatened by the principal, and, in general, tormented because of her beliefs. When you add in that Lucy's mother has somehow turned a picture-taking trip into a vacation from parenting, and that her dad doesn't seem to know what to do about it, what you end up with is an adolescent girl who has a lot on her shoulders. The joy of THAT GIRL LUCY MOON isn't just that it's a delightful coming of age story, or even that the "fight" against Miss Wiggins is a lesson in activism. The true gem, the delight that makes THAT GIRL LUCY MOON such a wonderful novel, is the very real feelings of hope and discouragement that mingle inside of the free spirit that is Lucy. Although similar to the aforementioned Stargirl, Lucy is a girl unlike any other you'll ever read about. For that alone you need to pick up a copy of THAT GIRL LUCY MOON, and find out for yourself just what type of heroine Lucy is. You might even realize that, inside of all of us, is that same hope mixed with discouragement that makes us human. Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

"And Lucy attended detention -- an after-school club for the activist!" "We can change the world, rearrange the world, It's dying to get better." --Graham Nash, "Chicago" The fact is, I can totally enjoy the humor when a children's book author uses the concept of tofu for Thanksgiving as the butt of a joke. Amy Timberlake's THAT GIRL LUCY MOON now joins Denys Cazet's hysterically funny MINNIE AND MOO AND THE THANKSGIVING TREE in that regard. But you have to also figure that if I'm going to speak up about this awesome tale of a sixth-grade activist named Lucy Moon then, as a fellow activist as well as a vegetarian for 28 years, one who has been grateful to consume tofu for many a Thanksgiving, I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to begin educating y'all about the wonders of having a tofu feast with all the trimmings. And so I'll share with you the Richie method of preparing tofu that everyone around here (hard-core carnivores included) always comes grabbing seconds and thirds of: Ingredients: 1 lb. packages of tofu (The ultimate in my part of the world is White Wave Tidal Wave Organic Extra Firm) Red Star Large Flake Nutritional Yeast Extra virgin Olive Oil San-J Organic Wheat-Free Tamari Directions: Drain tofu and slice each one pound package into eight slices. Heat skillet on medium high and pour in sufficient olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet. When the oil is hot, arrange the tofu slices in the skillet and fry until they are completely golden on the first side. Just before flipping over the tofu, spoon a generous covering of the nutritional yeast over the uncooked side of each slice. Flip over the tofu and add a bit more olive oil so that the yeast doesn't scorch. When the tofu slices are golden on both sides, lightly splash tamari over them, wait 30 seconds, flip them over one more time, and then remove them from the skillet. (If you're figuring on having mashed potatoes with the tofu, then a gravy can be made with the tofu "drippings" by using some of the potato water, some thinned-down red miso, along with a bit of corn starch and water if you want to thicken the consistency a bit.) That this year's holiday will turn out to not be a stellar Thanksgiving for Lucy Moon will have relatively little to do with her misguided attempt to prepare a tofu main course without the benefit of Richie's recipe for killer yeast tofu. At such a pivotal juncture in her life -- the beginnings of junior high -- Lucy is facing the mysteries and new dynamics of school, along with the sudden development of her best friend Zoe, all without the benefit of Lucy's mother. Mom, an artsy and idiosyncratic photographer who clearly must have been there to support Lucy's well-documented activist past in elementary school, has set out on a trip around the country to take pictures of clouds over a variety of landscapes. But instead of returning when she is suppose

I was born contrary. Should you crow a little too loudly about how good this thing or that thing is, I immediately decide to set about sniffing out its flaws. I don't want to come across as easily won over. Never. You see where this is leading, don't you? For a while now I haven't been able to so much as glance at a children's literature blog without eventually seeing the writer go into fits of pure ecstasy over Amy Timberlake's, "The Girl Lucy Moon". Was I going to be so easily swayed by the pack? No sir! This "Lucy Moon" business was going to have to do a puh-reety good job if it wanted to win my heart any time soon. Thus thinking I picked it up, gave it a look-see and... uh... Okay, fine. I really really liked it. I've a soft-spot in my heart for books of kiddie activism. The excellent writing, plotting, and arc of the title just happened to be a nice plus. Up until this moment in time, Lucy Moon has enjoyed a certain amount of infamy. Everyone in her elementary school knew who she was. She was the kid with the extra long braids and the yellow and green hemp hat that, when asked to remove the article, would launch into a well-rehearsed dialogue on the exploitation of Mexican workers, sometimes managing to work in a small "and did you know that hemp should be legal" speech on the side. She was the one who defended ants when boys fried them with magnifying glasses and led protests on a regular basis. But now everything's different. Lucy has just started the sixth grade in Middle School and she's not as sure of herself as she once was. To boot, her mother has taken off on a cross-country road trip in which she hopes to photograph cloud formations around the U.S. That might be okay (she does this sort of thing once a year) but this time she doesn't look as if she's coming back. Then two kids are arrested while sledding down Wiggins Hill. Immediately Lucy launches into action, reporting on the arrest when even the local papers refuse to and organizing a small protest against the most powerful woman in town, Miss Wiggins. What Lucy doesn't expect is the violent backlash against her small objections. Now she must face overwhelming punishment for acting within her rights while dealing with her personal issues at home. It may be done on a small scale, but what this book is doing, to some extent, is rather epic. On the surface it may only be about a girl who goes head to head with the establishment and sees the extent to which it works against her. Expand it a little farther and this is about basic civil liberties. To object to the closing off of Wiggins Hill by Miss Wiggins, Lucy creates little postcards for the other kids in the school to send to the hill's owner. Sending postcards in this manner, if done politely, is not harassment nor, for that matter, illegal. Yet the entire process ends with Lucy threatened with suspension for even attempting such a thing. This is deeply unfair, but how different is it from acti