Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy

By Jacqueline Woodson

Book Overview

Hurricane Katrina took her mother and granmother. And even though Laurel Daneau has moves on to a new life--one that includes a new best friend, a spot on the cheerleading squad, and dating the co-captain of the football team--she can't get past the pain of that loss. Then her new boyfriend introduces her to meth, and Laurel is instantly seduced by its spell, the way it erases, even if only temporarily, her memories. Soon Laurel is completely hooked, a shell of her former self, desperate to be whole again, but lacking the strength to break free. But with the help of a new friend--and the loyalty of an old one--she is able to rewrite her own story and move on with her own life.

Dreamlike in quality and weaving flashbacks to the hurricane in with Laurel's present-day struggles, this is a stunning novel that readers won't want to miss.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142423920
• ISBN13: 9780142423929
• Release Date: February 2013
• Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Hopeful

"This is an elegy ... and prayer for the ones who didn't make it." Of her work, Woodson says "I started researching and trying to find the happy ending and realizing I needed to write my own happy ending be ause so many [endings for meth addicts] were not happy. Laurel's is a hopeful story... she has a deep internal strength... I like to believe this deep strength exists in all of us." This is a heartaching story of a girl who lost her mother and grandmother in Hurricane Katrina's flood waters. Then, she loses herself to meth, to the light of the moon and its false happiness. As usual, Woodson's captures her characters clearly and writes something that will enthrall you, disgust you, bring you to tears, and lift you to hope.