Moonrise

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I don't know how she does it, because I am agressively opposed to free verse poetry (in fact, if I'm honest, I hate all poetry) but her words are just so beautiful and readable and her characters are so real and complex and vulnerable, I literally can't get enough of this author's writing. Tragically, the Supreme Court also rejects Ed’s clemency appeal. With seven days left before Ed’s execution, his family is finally allowed to see him physically, without plexiglass separating them. Angela arrives in town, followed by Aunt Karen, to Joe’s intense surprise. Although the siblings are delighted to be able to touch and hold Joe, a somber sense of the inevitable now grips the proceedings. Moving between the inexorable march to Ed’s execution and the past, Joe’s narrative paints a rich, heartbreaking portrait of a vulnerable family. Joe’s descriptions of past experiences with his older brother also serve to humanize Ed, making him more than a death row convict. Moonrise follows Joe in those few weeks, through hope and desperation, as he spends time with Ed. It is a really great narrative as Joe gets a job close to the prison and he also meets people from the town near the prison. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, as not everyone is too pleased to be talking about Ed and what he did/ didn’t do.

Stunned at the facts, Joe meets Ed with a striking admission of his own. Exemplifying the book’s themes of forgiveness of love, Joe tells his older brother, I’d still be sitting here if you did it.I’d know you didn’t deserve this. As the blurb says, Joe hasn’t seen his brother in a decade as Ed is on Death Row. But now the inevitable has happened, a date has been set for his execution, so Joe decides to go and spend the last few weeks near Ed to try to make up for lost time. With the clemency petition still under Governor McDowell’s review on the night of Ed’s execution, the family finally leave a disconsolate Ed at 10 p.m. Angela and Karen stay to watch Ed’s execution, and Joe joins Nell outside, hoping for an eleventh-hour miracle. However, a minute before midnight, Joe learns that the governor has denied their appeal. He stumbles around in pain, imagining Ed’s execution and agony in detail. Crossan’s (We Come Apart, 2017, etc.) eloquent usage of language in this deeply affecting novel puts readers right at the heart of a very sensitive and timely story. (Novel in verse. 14-18) As children, Edward, Angela and Joseph were often neglected, their mother a verbally abusive alcoholic. Parental responsibilities are entrusted to Karen, their mother's single, Christian sister. At seventeen years of age, Edward escaped the confines of their regimented home only to be incarcerated for the death of a police officer. Edward's execution has been scheduled and despite Karen's disapproval, Joseph begins his journey to farewell his brother. The narrative is incredibly distressing as the responsibility is placed upon Joseph, temporarily living within the decrepit Kirkland motel, abandoned by Karen and Angela.The novel moves skilfully between present events and Joe’s memories of being a young boy, spending time with his brother. It is an affecting story about the power of sibling love and how Joe finds the strength to deal with the myriad emotions he feels at this point in his life. I have loved every book I have read by Sarah Crossan, and with this the 100 per cent record remains intact. In my view, she is one of the most important writers of YA fiction around. And I know what I’m talking about, because I once wrote a poem. Brilliant ... An affecting story about the power of sibling love ... One of the most important writers of YA fiction around' - Times Educational Supplement When Joe Moon is seven years old he answers a phone call that will change his and his family’s life forever: his older brother Ed has been arrested for murder, and it happens to be in a state where the crime is considered a capital offence. Ten years later, Ed is still on death row but now his execution date has been set, and so Joe heads down to Texas to see his brother for the first time in a decade and make the most of the time they have left together. Mistrust, forgiveness and the premeditated stripping away of a future, distorting many other lives in unfathomable ways, are communicated through Crossan's spare, expressive free verse, with understated, heart-breaking clarity' - Guardian Since Angela cannot take a break from her job, Joe is the only one who can be there for Ed as his execution date nears. Their mother left the children long ago, and Aunt Karen, their guardian, is livid about Joe’s decision to go to Texas. For Aunt Karen, Ed is the reason for their family’s downfall. Struggling for money in Texas, Joe works out a deal with Bob, a local diner owner, and Sue, a waitress there: if Joe can fix Bob’s car, there may be a job in the offing for him, and as long as he is working on the car, he can get free food at the diner.

In the next chapter, Joe, now seventeen, travels to Wakeling, Texas, from New York. He is there to visit Ed, who has sent a letter with his execution date: August 18. Though Joe hasn’t seen Ed in ten years, he has fond memories of Ed, who gave Joe and their sister, Angela, love and structure in a home dominated by poverty and a neglectful mother. Even from death row, Ed is protective toward his younger brother: Don’t freak out, OK? Let me do the sweating.Joe hasn't seen his brother for ten years, and it's for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row. But now Ed's execution date has been set, and Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with him, no matter what other people think ... If the highest praise Carnegie Medal-winning author Sarah Crossan has been aiming for is from someone who once had a poem published in a collection of Suffolk’s Future Voices, then today she has officially made it.

After Sunset: We Need to Talk • After Sunset: The Right Choice? • Beyond the Code: Brightspirit's Mercy • The Elders' Concern • Spottedleaf's Honest Answer • The Clans Decide • Why is Jaypaw Blind? • Tigerstar: Heart of Evil? • The Curtain Falls: Choosing Which Cats Would Die • Unhappily Ever After? Ending the Doomed Romances • The Truth About Midnight • The Death of Bright Stream • The Longest Night • The Disappearing Herbs • A Fear of Fire • The Hidden Prophecy Joe hasn't seen his brother for ten years, and it's for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row. But now Ed's execution date has been set, and Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with him, no matter what other people think ... They think I hurt someone. But I didn't. You hear? Cos people are gonna be telling you all kinds of lies. I need you to know the truth.

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Into the Wild • Fire and Ice • Forest of Secrets • Rising Storm • A Dangerous Path • The Darkest Hour From one-time winner and two-time Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this poignant, stirring, huge-hearted novel asks big questions. What value do you place on life? What can you forgive?