Review by New York Times Review
IN "Alabama Moon," his first novel, Watt Key has an unusual coming-of-age story to tell. Ten-year-old Moon Blake lives with his "Pap," an antigovernment war veteran on the far side of paranoid. Since Moon was a toddler, Pap has kept him squirreled away deep in the Alabama woods, far from roads or power lines in "one small room built halfway into the ground." The forest they inhabit is vividly portrayed (not surprisingly, since according to the author's Web site, he spent much of his childhood hunting and fishing in the Alabama woods). But the most riveting images describe a world more rarely seen - the world of extreme survivalist isolation. "Our windows were narrow slits for shooting through and the trees that you saw out of these windows were pocked and chipped from years of Pap and me practicing a stage-one defense," Moon says matter-of-factly. From the first sentence of the novel we know that everything will not be O.K. "Just before Pap died, he told me that I'd be fine as long as I never depended on anybody but myself." By the end of the first chapter, we're rooting for Moon to break free of his lonely existence. Pap had said there were "other people like us" in Alaska, so after he dies of an infected wound, that is where Moon heads. His blind faith in Pap allows him to believe he can simply walk to Alaska from Alabama alone, toting his dried coon meat, traps, rifle and hatchet in a wheelbarrow. But while he has grown up learning to fend for himself - trap and grow food, find fresh water, build a shelter - Moon doesn't know how to be with people. He's quick to "whip up on" anyone who threatens him; yet he's not the "wild boy" or "stinkin' militia trash" people see him as. He's just a displaced person trying desperately to find his place in the world. Key has created a rich cast of supporting characters for Moon. After a night in jail (the best place he's ever been, because of the warm food and hot shower), Moon lands in Pinson, a boys' home. Right away, he has to fight off the resident bully, Hal Mitchell. An unlikely friendship begins when Moon takes Hal's punishment for him and sleeps outside in his place. Hal has long worked the tough-guy facade, but we quickly see his decent heart. For one thing, there are the two bloodhounds let loose by the brutal Constable Sanders when the friends escape from Pinson: dogs are always drawn to the good guys, and these two would rather follow Hal forever than return to their awful owner. Moon also meets Kit, a sickly boy who is fascinated by him and wants to help. Kit has been in and out of detention centers, but once he's on his own with Moon in the woods, he has the time of his life. Through his eyes, we see the value of the knowledge Moon gained during his strange childhood. "Kit began to learn how things were done, and I had to show him less and less." The relationships Moon develops are crucial to his realization that he doesn't want to live in isolation. He later tells Hal: "I'm glad you came and got me. I don't wanna be out there by myself anymore." Although the ending feels too neat and quickly tied up, Moon's coming to terms with his father's legacy is expertly timed. The boy has always accepted Pap's skewed perception of the world as his own, and Constable Sanders initially gives him reason to hold firm to his father's beliefs. The government is after him, and does intend him harm. But when Kit gets sick in the wilderness and Moon can't make him better with herbs, he eventually must question everything he thought was true. Moon finally realizes that his survival is dependent upon his rejection of his father's survivalist ideals. As imperfect a world as it may be, people need each other. Not only to survive, but to truly live. Tanya Lee Stone is the author of the young adult novel "A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
This excellent novel of survival and adventure begins with the death of young Moon's father, an antigovernment radical who has been living off the land in rural Alabama with Moon for years. Moon has never known any truth but his dad's, and so he tries to continue his father's lifestyle. Unfortunately, Moon quickly finds himself in the claws of civilization, as personified by a sadistic cop. After a brief stint in jail (a lifetime of hunting and gathering leaves Moon hilariously pleased with the prison food), Moon again lights out for the territories, only to be recaptured and end up in reform school. Of course, no reform school is gonna keep Moon in check. Key's first novel is populated with memorable characters--such as Moon's reform-school buddy's dad, whose life is devoted to drinking and shooting machine guns--and studded with utterly authentic details about rural Alabama and survivalism. Stylistically, the book is perfectly paced, and Moon's narration is thoroughly believable. A terrific choice for reluctant readers and also for fans of Gary Paulsen's Brian novels. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
First-time author Key's absorbing survival tale features a 10-year-old hermit, who feels more at home among forest creatures than people. Raised in a primitive shelter deep in the Alabama woods, Moon Blake knows only two people: Pap, a Vietnam veteran holding a grudge against the government, and Mr. Abroscotto, the storekeeper in Gainsville who buys their vegetables and sells them provisions. After Pap dies, Moon fully intends to carry out his father's wishes by finding his way to Alaska, a place where "no one would find him" and "people could still make a living off trapping." But the authorities want to make Moon a ward of the state. During a harrowing cat-and-mouse game against mean-spirited Constable Sanders, Moon gets a taste of society, and he even makes friends during his brief stint at a boys' home, where he carries out an escape plan and brings two boys back to the forest with him. Over time, however, Moon begins to question his father's lifestyle and beliefs, especially when his friend Kit takes ill and is in need of medical attention. Besides offering adventure, the book provides a detailed account of lessons Moon's father has taught him on being self-sufficient. If Moon emerges as too sociable and articulate a character for someone who has grown up in an isolated environment, he remains likable; readers will admire his ability to outwit authority figures. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Moon, age 10, has lived in the Alabama forest with his father, a Vietnam veteran, as long as he can remember. His dad taught him how to survive on his own and preached about the evils of the government. After the untimely death of his father, Moon's worst fears of government interference are confirmed when he's sent to a local home for boys. He runs away and sets off for Alaska, encounters a maniacal local constable, ends up in reform school, and more. Moon's escape and wilderness skills are put to the test. He finally realizes that loneliness is his biggest foe and that his Pap may have been too distrusting. Using subdued accents and well-controlled speech mannerisms, Nick Landrum enhances this great wilderness adventure story by Watt Key (Farrar, 2006) by giving voice to an unusual cast of characters. Vocal idiosyncrasies help listeners identify each character. Boys in upper elementary and middle school will be drawn to this outdoor adventure story, as will fans of Gary Paulsen's Hatchet (Atheneum, reissue 2000).-Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High School, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Readers first meet orphaned ten-year-old Moon as he buries his survivalist father in a remote forested tract. He has been raised to be entirely self-sufficient, dependent on no one -- especially ""the government"" -- for help. His plan to make his way to Alaska to join other survivalists is waylaid when the new owner of the property finds him and turns him over to the state. Moon tells his story in homespun prose, his loneliness bleeding through his determination to make it on his own and his overwhelming love for the outdoors. So thoroughly does first-time author Key inhabit his protagonist that readers will feel Moon's happy amazement at such comforts as the high quality of jail food. When, with two other boys, Moon escapes the orphanage-cum-detention-center he has been placed in and tries to live with them in the wild, he realizes that he needs companionship and that, moreover, his Pap might have been wrong. This weighty moral understanding emerges naturally, sharing space easily with topnotch survival action and exuberantly illicit romps in a beat-up pickup. It's a winningly fresh and sympathetic look at a life and culture almost never seen in children's books. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
All his life, Moon Blake has lived with his reclusive father, Oliver, on a remote tract of land in the woods surviving only on what they trap and grow. Soon after Moon turns ten, his father dies, leaving Moon to fend for himself. Before dying, Oliver instructs Moon to go to Alaska where he'll find people just like them. Instead, Moon is taken and placed in a boys' home where he loves having friends, but cannot bear being confined. Moon runs away with two boys, Kit and Hal, to the woods, where they live wild and free, evading capture, until Kit needs serious medical attention. Alone again, Moon begins to question his father's lifestyle. With help from a friend, Moon is united with a paternal uncle he never knew he had and is ready to live in a house, sleep on a bed and eager to be a part of a loving family. Key writes honestly about hunting, trapping and the hardships of survival in this rather unusual coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
