Beneath a Meth Moon (edition 2012)

Stark and spare, this book tells a little piece of Laurel's story and how she started doing meth when she was 15 and what happened next. It's a grim book, well-written but not so depressing one can't stand to read it. ( )

A heartbreaking but hopeful story told in exquisite prose. ( )

Oh, did this make me cry. Grief is such a powerful thing and Woodson shows how it can change the whole shape of lives. It did seem very much a sketch, but that made sense to me for the conceit of the book - that Laurel is writing an elegy for her dead family members and for the months of her life she's lost, for the relationships she may never be able to fully repair. ( )

Laurel has been through a lot in her 15 years. She, her father and her younger brother lost her mother and grandmother when they wouldn't leave Pass Christian when Hurricane Katrina came. They've moved to a small Midwest town after living with her aunt for two years in Jackson.

To say she misses her mother and grandmother, M'Lady, is understatement. Their loss is a deep pain that is with her always. It's not enough that she dearly loves her baby brother, who was three months old when they left Pass Christian, and that he deeply loves her. It's not enough that she adores and respects her father, a good, quiet, God-loving man. It's not enough that she has found a good friend, Kaylee, who is the reader to her writer (and Woodson's recounting of their dialogue in this regard is a gorgeous homage to the joys of reading and writing).

It's when the cute boy on the basketball team, the one with a tattoo of gumbo, kisses her and offers her meth, that she thinks she has found something that is enough. Meth dulls the pain of loss, makes her giddy and makes her want more. And more. And more.

Woodson tells Laurel's story by weaving back and forth in time without preaching, but by showing what Laurel is thinking and feeling throughout her descent into drug addiction and living on the street, through attempts at rehab and believing she can handle it. Laurel is fortunate that even on the street, she meets a wonderful person. Moses is a teenager who is paid by grieving parents to paint portraits of their meth angels, the teens they lost to meth, on buildings.

For both Laurel's story and Woodson's strong, lyrical, heart-deep writing, BENEATH A METH MOON is a very good book for teens to discover. The publisher recommends for ages 12 and up; it's going into my middle school library next to Woodson's other books. ( )

Mrs. Beamer's Review:
This book was really hard for me to read. I don't do well with drug-addicted characters. Perhaps it's just too scary for me to think about. That being said, I thought the book held its own (I guess?) I liked the writing style and would read more books by this author. However, I can't say I enjoyed the book. Within the first sentences, the author lets us know the main character beats her addiction. But even with that silver lining, I couldn't stomach the topic. The pre- post- hurricane storyline was lost on me, as I was fixated by the meth storyline. Honestly, I can't think of what reader group I would suggest this book to...will have to ponder that...

Mrs. Beamer’s advisory rating: 0-5 (0=none, 5=lots) click here for more info
Language: 2
Violence: 0
Sexual Content: 1
Drugs/Alcohol: 5
Potential Controversial Topics: heavy drug use ( )