Kacen Callender, who won the National Book Award for King and the Dragonflies and the Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award for Hurricane Child, delivers once again with a lyrical, magical-realist novel about 12-year-old Moon, a Black child diagnosed with depression. Therapy isn’t helping, and Moon worries that their single mom hates them because of their depression. On top of that is the impact of a pandemic that changes how schools are run and impacts many children’s mental health, plus other worries of the world: “Black people like me, arrested and killed because of the color of their skin. Transgender and nonbinary people told we don’t exist.” Moon’s nonbinary identity is clearly a factor in why others don’t accept them, but is not the primary focus.
To escape, Moon travels each night to the spirit world. There, they befriend the creature Wolf and find adventures, but only when that world is threatened and Moon must try to save it do they also begin a journey towards healing and acceptance in both that realm and ours.
Despite the challenging subject matter, Callender’s writing is as moving as ever, both magical and grounded, and offers a sense of hope without saccharine simplicity. The story is full of metaphors and meanings, choices and consequences, and lessons of love for oneself and others.
A powerful story from one of the best storytellers around.
