What the Moon Saw

By Laura Resau

Book Overview

Clara Luna's name means clear moon in Spanish. But lately, her head has felt anything but clear. One day a letter comes from Mexico, written in Spanish: Dear Clara, We invite you to our house for the summer. We will wait for you on the day of the full moon, in June, at the Oaxaca airport. Love, your grandparents. Fourteen-year-old Clara has never met her father's parents. She knows he snuck over the border from Mexico as a teenager, but beyond that, she knows almost nothing about his childhood. When she agrees to go, she's stunned by her grandparents' life: they live in simple shacks in the mountains of southern Mexico, where most people speak not only Spanish, but an indigenous language, Mixteco. The village of Yucuyoo holds other surprises, too-- like the spirit waterfall, which is heard but never seen. And Pedro, an intriguing young goatherder who wants to help Clara find the waterfall. Hearing her grandmother's adventurous tales of growing up as a healer awakens Clara to the magic in Yucuyoo, and in her own soul. What The Moon Saw is an enchanting story of discovering your true self in the most unexpected place.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385733437
• ISBN13: 9780385733434
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.0" x 5.8"
• Age Range: 12 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 9

Customer Reviews

An unbelievable novel from a amazing new writer!

I was lucky enough to meet Laura Resau when she came and gave a talk in my Children's Literature class in Maryland. I have to say that there isn't a thing in this book that wasn't derived from her life experiences. When she talks about the "limpia," the ritual steam baths, and lifestyles of the people in Mexico, she was there, she saw them, she experienced them. This is what makes this novel so compelling; from the beginning, the characters feel like real people and it's because they were based on real people! Don't be detered by the seemingly young adult cover, this is a book for all ages! More than anything, this book is about a girl named Clara trying to find herself, and does so when she visits her grandparents in a small village in Mexico. The characters in this book are so real and they are so natural that you can't help but be drawn into their lives. Clara is a typical teenage girl who needs her tv and her computer, but she finds that these things aren't nearly as important when she begins to live in Mexico. By reading this book, you not only learn more about a culture that is rarely or if ever talked about, but you may find that you learn a little about yourself and what your true passion is. If anything, you'll come away with a new appreciation for an area of the world that you know little about. Overall, this is an unputdownable book and deserves the attention of everyone! If you are lucky enough to have Laura Resau coming to your area, go see her and listen to her talk about her experiences and where she gets her inspiration from! It will definitly inspire you.

Beautiful writing and hard to stop reading until the very end!

Resau's writing has the feel of someone who has spent years perfecting her art so that now she can tell a compelling story with richness and color and depth, writing that speaks on many levels and conveys a whole culture, another way of life. The writing is taut, without excess, but at the same time full and sensuous, erecting edifices with a flick of a word or two. Her sentences themselves are like questing vines, with curlicues in their interior! I like how Resau brings out the wider reverberations of events as they rumble by. For instance, right at the beginning, Clara sneaks out of her house at night and submerges herself under the water in the nearby stream. It's a baptism into the other world, a world far from her suburban upbringing, an intimation of the spirit world she'll enter more fully later in the story. It's so powerful, the type of iconic image that keeps returning to one's mind after reading passages like this. As the chapters progress the tension and drama grows. It got my heart pounding, totally worried about what was going to happen. I didn't want to stop reading and it kept getting better as I saw more and more of the connections between the stories of the grandmother and grandchild. I really like how Resau weaves multiple occurrences of events/actions/people through the novel and then joins them so that the different pieces all slide smoothly one into another. She's created a page-turner, but one where you savor the individual pages with their evocative and vivid experiences. And it feels like Resau is honoring some of the people she's met on her travels, transferring some essence of them into the characters in the book, spreading their determination and way of being out to others in the world. On one level, this story is about a girl becoming aware of her ancestry and powers, and her acceptance of these. On another level, it's about getting all of us to listen to the messages sent by the natural and spiritual world. But, most simply, it's a wonderful read, a satisfying story for readers of all ages.

Future Classic Alert!

This is a fantastic book. The literature says it is for 10 and above, but as an adult I had no problem reading it. The language is beautiful - almost lyrical. This book is a great jumping off point to get kids talking about pride and heritage. I'm sure this book is going to find its way into classrooms very quickly. Buy it, buy it, buy it!

Read this book - it's amazing!

This book is sooooo good -- an exciting, wonderful story of Clara Luna and her trip to Oaxaca, Mexico -- I stayed up all night reading this book because I couldn't put it down - and it was worth being tired the next day. Adults and young adults will love it - and be inspired too.