I don't know how many times I've read this book. Dozens. I have listened to the audiobook so many times too. This is a story that has always devastated me at the end, although it's also got a beautiful hopefulness to it. It's hard to remember the first time I read it, having read it so many times, but I don't think I figured out the ending before I got there. Of course, I was probably around 12 when I read it the first time... but I guess I just believed what I was told in the story and didn't think something else might be going on. The multiple levels of the story (Sal's, Phoebe's, and Sal's grandparents') have affected me differently at different times. It's interesting to have a book I've read across so much of my life and how the point I'm at in my life changes my focus, but no matter what the story always moves me. ( )

SPOILER ALERT:

A Middle-Grade book I read as an "assignment" by my editor for a manuscript I'm writing. From the writing perspective, it took a minute to understand the suggestion, but now I get it. It was also a nice read.

Walk Two Moons takes young Sal on a journey with her grandparents to retrace her vanished mother's steps from Bybanks, Kentucky, to Lewiston, Idaho. Given that I grew up 60 miles from Lewiston, Idaho, I thought how odd and fun. And it was.

Along the way, Sal explains to her grandparents an intertwined, underlying story of her friend Phoebe and her mother, who mysteriously also vanished. The circumstances are completely different for Phoebe, whose mother comes back with her eldest, adopted son in tow. On the other hand, Sal learns that her mother had passed away in Lewiston and was never coming home.

The book is a good life lesson for the 8-12-year-olds, written with a soft touch on the grown-up side and much realism on Sal's side. Any youngster, or oldster, would enjoy it.
( )

Wow, a lot to deal with in the end. I found the language a bit distracting, all the chickabiddy and huzzah , etc. A somber story, dealing with several different ways of losing loved ones and navigating life ( )

Interesting, heart-string-pulling, but ultimately not uplifting enough to keep in my library. ( )

I ran across this book when I was looking for something to listen to one night. I thought from the title that it might be an indigenous tale but it is really not except that the central character, Salamanca, has some Indian blood. It is an engaging story meant for younger readers but I enjoyed it and I'm far from young.

The book opens with Salamanca {Sal) having to leave her family farm near Bybanks, Kentucky to move to Euclid, Ohio. Since her mother left, it's just her father and herself and he says he can't continue to stay on the farm as it makes him too sad. In Euclid, their first stop is with a Mrs. Cadaver, a friend of her father's. Across the street from Mrs. Cadaver live the Winterbottam family, including Phoebe who will become Sal's best friend. Strange things start happening at Phoebe's house: strange notes start appearing on their porch, a young man, that Phoebe thinks is insane, starts hanging around, and then, Phoebe's mother disappears just leaving a note saying she has to go away for a while. Since this is just what Sal's mother did the two girls are determined to solve the mystery. The story about Phoebe and her family is told by Sal to her grandparents as they drive west to Idaho where her mother was last heard from. Along the trip more details about Sal, her mother and her father come out but it's not until the end of the book that we learn the whole history.

This book won the Newbery Award in 1995 and so it may be outdated a bit but it's still a book that I think a lot of young people (and older people too) would enjoy. ( )

This deeply emotional story is a Newberry Medal winner. Sal takes a roadtrip with her grandparents. Along the way she tells a tale of her friend to fill the time. While she is telling this tale she learns many lessons about her own life. There are references to death throughout the story which makes it best for mature upper middle school to high school children.

#1339 in our old book database. Rated: Good. #260 for Adele. Rated: Good. ( )

I was pleasantly surprised with Walk Two Moons. I was skeptical when I started reading but because it was a required one for Battle of the Books, I kind of had to stick with it. Well that AND the story involved a road trip to Lewiston, Idaho......personal connections are always good.

However, this book had a lot of depth--love, loss, family, diversity, intrigue, wittiness....I was kind of amazed. I got a lot of innuendo as well as subtle nuances that I will be curious to see if middle schoolers caught on to. It is a story, though, of a twelve year old's journey which is relatable. Sal and Phoebe are likable characters but my favorite were definitely the Grandma and Grandpa. They made me smile. ( )

Two 13 year old girls who are dealing with their mothers' absence, the story told by one, Sal on a trip with her grandparents to her mother's last location. It is a story about loss and stories and learning about one's own life by examining others' lives. There is a low key slightly mocking humor and while the story was well enough put together I found some discordant notes. ( )

Sal is the main character in this novel. She is a 13 year old girl that has Native American roots. In the story she struggles with at the loss of her mother to a car accident. She sets out on a journey with hopes that she can bring her mother back, she carries many emotions such as pain, anger, and denial. As she listens to the stories about her mother and is faced with the trials along the way she has a changing in her attitude and personality. There is many things that can be taken from this book and developed to help others with issues and struggles they may be facing in life.

While on a road trip to go visit her mother in Idaho, thirteen year old Sal entertains her grandparents with strange tales about her friend Phoebe. There's a lot in this story to digest, I may go back for a re-read soon. ( )

A sweet sad tale that reflects how we see our selves and how others see us.
The pressures to meet expectations and the lies we tell ourselves. ( )

This book is annoying from the start, but Sal, the protagonist, isn't as as childish as the one from Creech's book "Bloomability." Sal remarks on her family's naming conventions, saying they're "Indian" names. This book was written in the 90s, but that wording made it clear the author isn't Native. I checked each name, and two are tribes out of New York. The third is a Sioux name. I looked up more on the book. Creech got the title from a fortune cookie, and one of her cousins is part American Indian, as she phrases it, and she cheerily admits to intentionally lying as a kid and saying she was full Native. At this point, all I can do is sigh in exasperation. Sal is stated to have long, beautiful black hair, and she looks down on girls who have shoulder-length hair. She desperately misses her enormous, sprawling home in Kentucky. Her father moved her to another state, into the city, for reasons I never felt were clear. It's not at all explained at first that Sal's mom died--she keeps talking about bringing her back.

A third of the way into the book, half a dozen subplots have been introduced. This book would have functioned -way- better as a short story collection instead of a novel with so many subplots. The grandparents were probably supposed to be delightfully quirky, but were annoying and irresponsible. I loved their marriage and courtship story, though. When I go on a date from here on out, I'm asking my date if they have a dog and how they treat their dog, too. Ben, Sal's love interest, can't keep his hands to himself and is going to grow up to be a creep. Phoebe is weird, and so is her family. Why did I like this book as a kid?

The kids' English teacher has boundary issues in that he reads their class-issued journals out loud, and has them write about each other and personal things. He's treating it like an unethical sociological experiment. Phoebe is a horrid dinner guest and and even worse sleepover guest to Sal. Creech had the character Lila do something very similar in her book "Bloomability," so I wonder if 1. This is a thing that actually happened or 2. One of those scenes was the original concept and Creech wanted to rewrite it, so she did in another one of her books. It could be something totally different than my wonderings.
The book is increasingly awkward and bizarre, and takes a few turns right into soap opera territory. Sometimes I like soap opera territory. This was not that! A children's book about loss and grief shouldn't have had so many weird things in it, and the author shouldn't shove cultures into her book that she knows nothing about. The ending pages were more calm and respectful than any of the book, and they belonged in a much better book. ( )

I discovered this book when I was a young kid and I was always my favorite. reading it as an adult brings me right back in to younger days, absorbed in the peculiar story and the web of strands wound from a story in a story. ( )

This is the story of Sal Hiddle's road trip across the US with her grandparents.

Despite completely loving it and it making me cry, it did drag a bit in the second half, I found myself skipping ahead, which I very seldom do in books. Which was probably an error, because I spoilered myself with a twist I hadn't seen coming, although in some ways reading the second half of the book watching Sal lie to herself that her mother isn't dead was an even more powerful read.

What's it about? Stories in stories. How we understand our own stories through listening to other people's stories, and understand ourselves through reflections in others. How we should see things from the other person's point of view.

There is a strong theme of women who leave, who are being crushed by the pressure of family life and just run away. Sal's mother, crushed by the still birth of her second child, goes on a roadtrip (which has a tragic outcome). Phoebe's mother, leaves with no warning and goes to rebuild her relationship with the child she gave up for adoption. There is a half told story about the time even Sal's grandma left her grandpa for three days to run off with the egg man, who actually wrote her love letters. What do we take from this, women who leave and mostly return? Their children are sad and angry and bitter about it, but also are taught that a person has to go out and do things, and mother dogs drive off their puppies when they are weened.

There is also so much death in this book. The only other Sharon Creech I have read is 'Love that dog', I wonder if all her books are about someone needing to grieve who isn't ready to grieve yet and has to try and understand their loss? I was not prepared for the baby dying, or the snake bite, or gram dying, or for the twist that Sal's mum can never come back because she is dead. It is such a sweet book in so many ways, with blackberry kisses and farm life and all the highlights of traveling across the USA, geysers and badlands, and then so much tragedy. I guess that is life.

Oddly, in a book where many unusual things happen, it was the English teacher deciding to read out people's personal journals without realising that anonymisation doesn't work in a tiny class that struck me as most stupid and unlikely! ( )

I love stories that portray children navigating their way as the adults around them stumble through grown-up problems, and this novel does that skillfully. My son and I read this aloud to one another, and we both enjoyed the layers and layers of stories (except for the romance, which my son says is dumb because the boy is a creep and not a "romantic guy"). Read as part of the Build Your Library homeschool curriculum, level 7. ( )

Ive read this book several times before (in grade school and as a teenager) and find the story compelling and interesting and it always makes me cry at least a little bit. The split format of the book as Sal tells the reader about several different times in her life works well and the story is emotional and serious and hilarious in turns.

Even though I like this book I took issue with it on this read through because of something I didnt really pick up on before; its kinda racist. Im not saying the author holds any malice towards Native Americans, but the way she includes that part of her protagonists identity relies quite a bit on stereotypes and tropes. I would still highly recommend this book, but also probably recommend checking out some reviews written by Indigenous people as well. ( )

Although this book is wonderfully written and tells a great story, I just don't like Sharon Creech that much. I feel kind of guilty about this since as a librarian I'm practically breaking a federal law by admitting it. Her stories are just a little bit too sweet for me. Also, her books always feel like something that grownups like and think kids should like but they aren't really for teens or kids--they always feel very adult to me. ( )

This book is great for fifth/ sixth grade, but can also be used for the upper grades. it is about a girl whose mother left her, and she goes on an adventure with her grandparents to try and find her mother. this book is a powerful book, that touches on a hard topic of a parent leaving their child, and that child is struggling with the reality of their parent leaving. While dealing those emotions is also trying to find answers. ( )

Walk Two Moons is the sad story of Salamanca Tree Hiddle whose mother left Sal and her father to travel out west, but never returned home. Sal takes a trip with her grandparents to follow the path her mother took. While on the trip, Sal tells her grandparents the story of her friend, Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother also disappeared. By alternating between the two stories, we get a chance to see the parallels between them and the differences that ultimately leads to the lesson or theme of the book which is dealing with loss. Newbery Award-winning books often have deeper meanings behind the actions of the characters, and this book was no exception. I did think that the book was almost too sad, leaving the reader with the message that there is very little in life to be happy about. Otherwise, this is a very well written story, full of emotion. ( )

An ideal book for 5th and 6th graders with a creative female narrator from a nontraditional family. ( )

I discovered this book when I was a young kid and I was always my favorite. reading it as an adult brings me right back in to younger days, absorbed in the peculiar story and the web of strands wound from a story in a story. ( )

RGG: Sweet story about a young girl's dealing with the change caused by the loss of her mother. Intergenerational relationship is very positive. Prose is very simplistic.

Walk Two Moons is a deep story full of drama and adventure. Although it starts off a little slow: it's theme, characters and depth kept me reading to the end. It is a story about a young girl, Salamanca, going on an adventure, looking for answers. Her mother left and never returned so she goes on an journey with her grandparents to see her mom. She spends a lot of time telling stories to her grandparents, especially about her friend Phoebe whose mom had left also. There is a lot to take from this book, and I definitely don't want to spoil the ending in this review, so... I highly recommend you check it out for yourself! There are also a lot of great lessons that students can pick up from this book. Never judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins. ( )

This book dealt with some really tough topics. I like the way Sal somewhat tells her story thru her storytelling of Phoebe. It was very impactful how she also learned from her experiences with Phoebe. Her grandparents are just wonderful. It was an emotional read at some points but very worth it. ( )