Bird Lake Moon

by Kevin Henkes

On Sale: 04/22/2008

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Bird Lake Moon

by Kevin Henkes

On Sale: 04/22/2008

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Amazon Indigo

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Book Overview
Author Info

ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice

New York Public Library's “One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing”

Sunshine State Young Readers Award nominee (Florida)

Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice

About the Book

Told in alternating voices, this smart and engaging middle grade novel from the beloved Kevin Henkes is the story of two boys coming together in friendship as they struggle with family conflicts and tragedy.

There are ghosts at Bird Lake, and they're haunting Mitch and Spencer. Not the Halloween kind, but ghosts of the past. Memories of how life was before—before the divorce, before the accident. Can their ghosts bring Mitch and Spencer together, as friends? Or will their secrets keep them apart?

Mitch feels isolated at his grandparents’ house and can’t help hating his father, who walked out on him and his mom two and a half weeks earlier. Spencer’s family has decided it’s finally time to return to Bird Lake, years after his brother, Matty, drowned there. Both boys arrive at the lake scarred and fragile, but as they become friends, the sharp edges of their lives smooth out and, slowly, they are able to start healing.

“Superbly crafted. A ‘must have’ for every library.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“In a novel as tender as his acclaimed Olive’s Ocean, Henkes probes the psyches of two boys facing family conflicts.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Critical Praise

“In a novel as tender as his acclaimed Olive’s Ocean, Henkes probes the psyches of two boys facing family conflict.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Henkes knows children and their secrets, and readers will lean close to hear the whispers.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)

“Superbly crafted . . . with humor and just the right amount of tension to make this a significant and highly readable book.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“This quiet, beautifully told story deals delicately but realistically with the boys’ emotions.” — Kliatt (starred review)

“Henkes deftly locates Mitch’s pain and confusion, delivering a novel that’s quiet, nuanced, and redemptive.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Unpretentious, spare, and timeless in the way of summers by the lake.” — The Horn Book