A Nearer Moon

Starred review from June 22, 2015
Crowder (Audacity) blends gorgeously poetic language with precisely observed detail in this delicate fantasy of sisterly love tested by separation and illness. Luna and her younger sister, Willow, live in a swamp caused by the mysterious damming, nearly a generation ago, of the river that used to flow through their village. The swamp water is supposedly cursed, and even one sip causes a wasting sick-
ness that inevitably kills in three weeks. After Willow becomes ill, Luna’s desperation causes her to seek high and low for
a solution. Meanwhile, the water sprite
sisters Perdita and Pelagia prepare to leave the entire world they live in, because sprites can no longer share a world with humans. The fates of the two sets of sisters are more closely entwined than any of them would expect. Crowder’s vividly observed setting, centered on a rooted and loving village community and that community’s interdependence with the land and water, helps this simple-seeming story gain remarkable complexity and emotional resonance. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Starred review from June 15, 2015
The interconnected tale of two girls, one human and the other a water sprite, determined to save their beloved sisters. On Perigee, the night of the nearest moon, a sudden log jam creates a dam along the river. Luna's community lives on the edges of the expanding swamp, building houses on ever higher stilts and believing that the evil spirit who caused the dam lurks under the water. All who taste the water sicken, dying in exactly three weeks. When water splashes into Luna's sister's mouth, Willow contracts the wasting sickness, and Luna breaks every one of her mother's rules to save Willow. In alternating chapters, Perdita's story is told: the adventurous sprite missed the window of time when the doors to a new world opened for the sprites to leave the world that humans have polluted. She fumes in misery beneath the dam. Her twin, Pelagia, had fashioned two lockets, one for each of them, to keep them close. The charmed locket, initially lost by Perdita, holds the key to both Perdita's reunion and Luna's saving her sister and her community. This lyrical story has a once-upon-a-time quality and, like the best of fairy tales, an evil to be overcome, a magic charm, and a lesson to be gleaned. Crowder's language is sumptuous, written with an elegiac quality that suits the wistful longings of her protagonists. A quiet story of perseverance and hope, exquisitely written with words and images that demand savoring. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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Starred review from July 1, 2015

Gr 5-8-Luna lives in a swamp. It didn't used to be a swamp. Back in Granny Tu's time, it was a lovely flowing river, filled with sprites and fairies and magic where all of the people of the village were happy. Now the fairies are gone and the magic has turned dark and there is a sickness in the water. Or so they say. Luna doesn't believe a word of it. She only believes what she can see and touch and hear. When Luna's beloved younger sister, Willow, falls into the swamp and catches the river sickness, Luna's family is torn asunder. Willow has three weeks until she wastes away and dies, just like their father did years earlier. Luna's brave journey to save her sister takes her to places her mother told her never to go and to the very heart of the dark magic. Told in alternating chapters of the past fairy time and Luna's present, this lyrical tale highlights the power of sisterly love in a truly enchanting way. VERDICT The book is an easy read and will appeal to lower level/higher interest readers but its charming narrative will be sure to captivate everyone.-Terry Ann Lawler, Burton Barr Library, Phoenix, AZ

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