AUTHOR: Watt Key
AGES: 5th-9th grades
REVIEW: With Alabama Moon, I think children from today's times would have a difficult time relating to the character. I think boys would find the adventure of Moon living off the land by himself and with his friends to be exciting. But I think children would have a trouble relating to how Moon's father reacted to the Vietnam War. I think even with the current War in Iraq, children would find the plot plausible but the reasoning that created the plot to be too far removed from their lives. Adult readers of this book will easily connect with how Moon's father came back from the Vietnam War with anger toward his country and government. To read this book with a class would require some time discussing the air that pervaded the Vietnam era, linking it to the current sentiments with the War in Iraq may help children relate.
In Abby the Librarian's blog, she describes Alabama Moon as "the Dukes of Hazard meet Hatchet," which is probably a very apt description. The deep South and backwoods setting certainly conjure images of Bo and Luke Duke complete with a corrupt sheriff, like Roscoe P. Coltrain. The survival aspect also align with Gary Paulson's Hatchet books with a young boy alone in the wilderness. Abby offers a great synopsis of the book and a great review. I encourage you to visit her blog post for more.
Overall, I really enjoyed Alabama Moon. Abby the librarian suggest the ending came together a little too neatly, and I can see that except that I was almost half expecting for two or more of the boys to be put together at the end. There is quite a it of profanity, so a teacher would really need to gauge this with her children. You may need to go with older children because of this. While the text and vocabulary could be handled by fifth through eighth graders, you may want to use this novel with older students because of the profanity.
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