Unhooking the Moon
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize and a finalist for The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a starred review Kirkus Review praised Unhooking the Moon as a "rousing adventure on the not-so-mean streets, with heart aplenty."
When an adventurous sister-and-brother duo become orphans, a funny and heartbreaking roadtrip to New York ensues, as the pair searches for their long-lost uncle.
Meet the Rat: A dancing, soccer-loving, fearless ten-year-old from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Meet her older brother, Bob: Protector of the Rat, though more often than not her faithful follower, Bob is determined to build a new and better life for him and his sister in America. Of particular concern for him are his sister's mysterious fits, which keep getting more and more severe.
On their adventures traveling alone from the flatlands of Winnipeg, southward across the border into America, Bob and the Rat make friends with a host of unlikely characters, including a hilarious con man and a famous rap star. As they struggle to survive in the big city, they realize that finding your uncle in New York is incredibly difficult if you have almost no information about him--even if he is rumored to be one of the city's biggest drug dealers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Published in England in 2010 to acclaim and awards, Hughes's quirky, poignant debut is narrated by nearly-13-year-old Bob, who lives in thrall to his 10-year-old sister, known as the Rat. Prone to seizures and visions, the Rat is obsessed with pedophiles and has a knack for wise, wry adages. The story opens in the siblings' Winnipeg home, where the Rat's offhand claim that their loving, but somewhat hapless widowed father will die quickly proves true; she then persuades Bob to travel to New York City to find their long-lost uncle, a purported drug dealer. A madcap road trip via bicycles and freight trains ensues, followed by relentless New York City adventures that include sleeping in Central Park, hustling tourists, and knocking on seedy building doors. From First Nation Natives in Winnipeg to gangsters and a rap star in Manhattan, Bob and the Rat interact with a predictably wild array of characters; readers will appreciate Bob's seesawing between his determination to protect his "drama queen" of a sister and his frustration at her recklessness. Occasional dark undertones foreshadow the unexpectedly sad, yet realistic conclusion that skillfully avoids turning maudlin. Ages 9 12.
