Review: Summer on the Moon by Adrian Fogelin

 

An offer from a great-grandfather he’s never met will alter Socko’s life forever. He’ll dodge the local gang that is about to recruit him—and lose his best friend.

I got an email from the wonderful Emily at Peachtree Publishers asking if I'd like to review Summer on the Moon by Adrian Fogelin and be part of the blog tour.  OF COURSE I WOULD!  

I went into this book thinking that it was going to be about an inner-city kid who made a bad choice and had to go work for his grandfather or something.  I thought Socko would be gritty and hard.  I was wrong on both counts.  Socko is a gentle giant who will do anything for his friends.  The offer from Socko's grandfather is actually a house for him and his mother---and a way out of the neighborhood.  A chance for a better life, something that Socko's mother desperately wants.

Socko's mother's, Delia's,  greatest wish was for Socko to have a better chance at life than she did (she got pregnant with him at 15).  She isn't bitter about her life choices, but she doesn't want Socko to have that life.  She does what she thinks is best, moving Socko out of the neighborhood (ghetto?) and away from his friends Damien and Junebug.  She felt that, in order for Socko to have a chance, he needed to cut all ties with the neighborhood.  

When Socko and Delia first moved in to their new house with The General, they were like 3 ships passing in the night.  Barely communicating, not really listening to each other, not really knowing each other.  Somewhere along the way, over the course of that first summer in Moon Estates (the empty subdivsion they moved to---seriously, they were the only ones for the first few days), they became a family.  But, they also learned that you weren't a family just because you have the same blood---that just means you're related---a family is a unit that cares for and about each other.  And they don't necessarily have to be related.

I think this is a wonderful book.  I can't wait to put it on my shelf.  I think my 5th grade boys will especially enjoy it.

Stay tuned for a special guest post by author Adrian Fogelin.  She's writing about her family memories.

I'd like to thank Emily and Peachtree Publishers for sending me a copy of Summer on the Moon.  I really appreciate it.