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Summary
Summary
Lucy Moon is the kind of girl who loudly protests injustice and isn't afraid to fight it. When she's labeled a bad influence she begins to wonder if one person can really make a difference and questions the value of fighting against injustice.
Author Notes
Amy Timberlake won the Golden Kite Award for her picture book, The Dirty Cowboy . She has worked as a book reviewer and columnist, a children's bookseller, a book event coordinator, and as the Public Information Officer at the Virginia Commission for the Arts. That Girl Lucy Moon is her first novel. Amy lives with her husband in Chicago, Illinois.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Timberlake's (The Dirty Cowboy) quite enchanting first novel stars a girl struggling to find her place in junior high. In elementary school, "Lucy had felt full of fire and fury"; fighting social injustice was a large part of her identity. All the students knew why Lucy wears a green-and-yellow hemp hat (to make people aware of how the U.S. takes advantage of Mexican workers). Now in sixth grade, things seem different; Lucy has lost her spark. "If the other sixth graders were like pocket change,... then Lucy had always been more like a button." Suddenly, being unique wasn't cool. When the wealthy Miss Wiggins, who lives atop "the only good sledding hill" in town, decides to fence it off, Lucy and two friends launch a "Free Wiggins Hill!" postcard campaign hoping to change Miss Wiggins's mind. Lucy gets her 15 minutes of fame before things go terribly wrong. Her uncommon perspective on the social nuances of junior high is refreshing, but the book becomes muddled when it begins to jump between Lucy's campaign and her bewilderment over the sudden abandonment of her mother. Readers may also question the sudden capitulation of Miss Wiggins, who is portrayed throughout the book as rather mean, calculating and controlling. Still, Lucy is a likeable girl with plenty of spunk, and those who feel out-of-place in junior high will likely enjoy this rather refreshing look at getting involved. Ages 9-12. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Life has changed for injustice-fighting Lucy Moon. Not only is junior high less accepting than elementary school of her activism in support of animal rights, workers of the world, and other causes, but there are also those annoying boys who run a pencil up girls' spines to check their "development." But even more troubling is the fact that her mother has left for an extended photography trip around the country, leaving her with her detached father. To top it off, the town's richest citizen, Miss Wiggins, has fenced off her beloved sledding hill. True to form, Lucy organizes a "Free Wiggins Hill" campaign that at first excites her fellow students, and then turns them against her and lands her in a heap of trouble at school. Timberlake develops her feisty character through believable dialogue, both externally with her father, friends, and teachers, and internally, as she struggles with the value of fighting wrong in the face of escalating difficulties, including detention and "Youth Action" with horrible Mrs. Mudd. The carefully crafted plot moves through most of the school year as Lucy endures her mother's absence and Miss Wiggins's powerful influence in the town of Turtle Rock, MN, first with depression and then with growing anger. Ultimately, all the plot threads pull together to create a satisfying conclusion.-Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Sixth-grader Lucy Moon's life begins to unravel the day her photographer mother sets off on an extended road trip. It's already begun to fray upon her entry into middle school, where hormones--or the fear thereof--govern all the activities of students and teachers alike. Lucy, always a staunch upholder of justice, finds herself considering compromise--a distinctly worrisome turn of psychological events. With her mother gone, she finds herself without her most natural ally in her struggles--with her changing feelings and with the redoubtable Miss Wiggins, who has suddenly decided to fence off the community sledding hill. Timberlake handles her storylines gracefully, allowing Lucy's personal and political development from a child to an adolescent to unfurl with fits and starts--that is to say, naturally. Lucy's a winning character, whose native fierceness and sudden uncertainty will resonate with readers, as will her mounting incredulity as her mother's trip stretches on and on through the year. As Lucy grows into her new self, redefining both friendships and her relationships with her parents, readers will see, along with Lucy, that change isn't all bad. (Fiction. 9-13) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
