Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2008
176 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Amie thinks her father can do anything ... until the one time he can do nothing. When twelve-year-old Jamie Dexter's brother joins the Army and is sent to Vietnam, Jamie is plum thrilled. She can't wait to get letters from the front lines describing the excitement of real-life combat: the sound of helicopters, the smell of gunpowder, the exhilaration of being right in the thick of it. After all, they've both dreamed of following in the footsteps of their father, the Colonel. But TJ's first letter isn't a letter at all. It's a roll of undeveloped film, the first of many. What Jamie sees when she develops TJ's photographs reveals a whole new side of the war. Slowly the shine begins to fade off of Army life—and the Colonel. How can someone she's worshipped her entire life be just as helpless to save her brother as she is? From the author of the Edgar Award-winning Dovey Coe comes a novel, both timely and timeless, about the sacrifices we make for what we believe and the people we love.
"Starred Review." - Kirkus Reviews.
"Although the book lacks the fine-tuned characterizations of the author's Dovey Coe, it succeeds in credibly depicting a girl's loss of innocence. Ages 10-up." - Publishers Weekly.
"Dowell is an experienced storyteller and she balances the serious nature of Shooting the Moon with the normal foibles of a 12-year-old." - KLIATT
"Readers will find beauty in its resolution, and will leave this eloquent heroine reluctantly. This is Dowell's most cohesive and engaging novel yet." - School Library Journal
This information about Shooting the Moon was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo:Clifton Dowell
Frances O'Roark Dowell is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of Dovey Coe, which won the Edgar Award; Where I'd Like to Be; the bestselling The Secret Language of Girls and its sequels The Kind of Friends We Used to Be and The Sound of Your Voice, Only Really Far Away; Chicken Boy; Shooting the Moon, which was awarded the Christopher Medal; the Phineas L. MacGuire series; Falling In; and the teen novel Ten Miles Past Normal. She lives with her husband and two sons in Durham, North Carolina.
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