Book Review #5 What the Moon Saw

Catherine Schaaf
cschaaf@st.philip-neri.org

Novel: What the Moon Saw

What the Moon Saw: A novel by Laura Resay,2006,258pp.
$15.95 Mexico, Rural Life, History ISBN:978-0-385-73343-4

Clear moon, that is the English translation for Clara Luna. Clara is fourteen and knows very little about her father’s past, except that he sneaked over the border from Mexico as
a teenager. Her father has not seen his parents or homeland in over 20 years.

Clara lives in Maryland. She receives an invitation to spend the summer in Oaxaca, Mexico with Grandparents she has never met, in a place she has never been. While she gets along well with her father and she feels a kindred spirit with him as he calls her
Mi’ja (slang for mi hija- my daughter) she really does not know anything about his child-
hood.

When she decides to accept an invitation to accept stay with her Grandparents, she thinks it will be a fun change of scenery and she may listen to her Ipod, play DVD”s, watch T.V. and make phone calls to her friends. She thinks “that won’t be bad”. Besides, she has been in a fog lately and this trip will give her clarity. “who am I without all these things in my life? Clarity like her name Clear Moon. Maybe she can find out in another
Country.

Upon arrival to the airport, her grandparents met her and said she had to call her parents from the airport to let them know of her arrival to Mexico. They informed her that they did not have a phone at their house. !Hijole! !No telefono! Good grief-no telephone!
Then she had to take four bus rides to Oaxaca and several miles to walk to the small town Yucuyoo, the Hill of the Moon.

For Clara, it could have been the Moon, as there was not a single house with electricity or
running water. !Que suerte! What luck! As she feels displaced she finds out her grandmother has spiritual powers. She can see the future and heal others like a medicine
man. Clara has read through out history about spiritual powers in different countries. Could it possibly be true in her own family. Clara wonders if she has inherited the magic in her soul.

This story is a coming -of-age and an awakening of a young girl. The book Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa (Micol Ostow) is another book on coming –of- age. Readers who enjoy What the Moon Saw will appreciate the family history. Laura Resau is able to draw a picture of the scenery, village, people and keep emotions vivid. It is a story difficult to put down for the reader. The literature is for the young adult reader, high school level and would be a nice edition to the Spanish curriculum. The culture will entice the reader and many Spanish phrases are used in the book.