Graffiti Moon

Senior year is over, and Lucy and her friends are planning to stay out all night and have an adventure. Lucy wants to find the elusive graffiti artist known as Shadow, while her friend Jazz wants to meet Shadow's co-conspirator, Poet. Ed and Leo are out for adventure as well--a potentially criminal adventure--but that's nothing new for the two experienced graffiti artists. Narrators Ben Maclaine, Hamish R. Johnson, and Chelsea Bruland handle chapters from Ed's, Leo's, and Lucy's points of view. The narrators' Australian accents delightfully express the wry yet hopeful outlooks of clever teens who are trying to find their way into adulthood. Listeners will thoroughly enjoy staying up all night with this adventurous crew. G.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

December 19, 2011
Crowley (A Little Wanting Song) returns with a moving contemporary spin on disguised-identity romances (think You’ve Got Mail), first published in Australia. The novel is told in the voices of two creative older teenagers—Ed, aka secretive graffiti artist Shadow, and Lucy, a fledgling glass blower—interspersed with the poems of Leo/Poet, Ed’s best friend and graffiti partner. Set over the course of one long night, Crowley’s story slowly develops the relationship between Ed and Lucy, enemies since a disastrous date two years earlier. Lucy is obsessed with Shadow and his art; she tells Ed, “I just want to meet one guy, one guy, who thinks art is cool.” The teens’ artistic sensibilities are richly and affectingly expressed; readers will agonize over their obvious compatibility and long for them to recognize each other as soul mates. The beauty and danger of the nocturnal urban landscape is an effective counterpoint to the growing attraction of the sensitive yet bristly pair. Secondary characters—close friends, artistic mentors, and well-meaning parents—are strongly rendered, layering the steadily engrossing story with credible complexity. Ages 14–up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, InkWell Management.