A review by lazygal
Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes
3.0
This is one of those very quiet books - not a ton of action, not a ton of emotion (although there is a lot of emotion under the surface), just a simple story.
Mitch's father has moved in with another woman, so Mitch's mom moves them to Bird Lake, where her parents have a house. These are those distant, don't-know-what-to-do-with-kids/don't-really-want-kids-around kind of grandparents, exactly what Mitch doesn't need right now. He starts claiming the decrepit, unlived-in house next door, only to be displaced by the "intruders" (aka "the rightful owners").
The Stone family has a tragedy of its own, the drowning several summers ago of Matty, the oldest son. Spencer thinks that Mitch's attempts to drive them away are the work of Matty's ghost, but ultimately the two become friends and he learns that it was Mitch, not Matty, that did things.
Neither boy seems happy, and neither seem to have any real place that's theirs - their friendship seems more of two lost souls finding one another than anything that could last.
This is a quick read, and I'm afraid that it's not one that's going to stick with the reader for very long; unless, that is, the reader is a youngish boy who's going through something similar.
Mitch's father has moved in with another woman, so Mitch's mom moves them to Bird Lake, where her parents have a house. These are those distant, don't-know-what-to-do-with-kids/don't-really-want-kids-around kind of grandparents, exactly what Mitch doesn't need right now. He starts claiming the decrepit, unlived-in house next door, only to be displaced by the "intruders" (aka "the rightful owners").
The Stone family has a tragedy of its own, the drowning several summers ago of Matty, the oldest son. Spencer thinks that Mitch's attempts to drive them away are the work of Matty's ghost, but ultimately the two become friends and he learns that it was Mitch, not Matty, that did things.
Neither boy seems happy, and neither seem to have any real place that's theirs - their friendship seems more of two lost souls finding one another than anything that could last.
This is a quick read, and I'm afraid that it's not one that's going to stick with the reader for very long; unless, that is, the reader is a youngish boy who's going through something similar.