Alabama Moon is a book about a son named Moon and his father, "Pap", living out in a huge forest in Alabama. Moon is a very strong person in both mind and body. Readers can tell because Moon owns hundreds of books that he has read at least once because he has bags full of them in his shelter. Moon is strong because he lives out in the forest and has to hunt and cut down trees for survival. His father also says he can "whip up on" anybody, even someone three times his size.
Moon is very confident. When Moon's father dies, he tells Moon to go to Alaska. This seems like a great feat, because of the long distance and dangers involved in Alaska's harsh climate. Many people might not be able to tackle this challenge. Moon, on the other hand, keeps going. When the government finds him and puts him in an "Inescapable" facility, he still finds a way to escape. He even saves everyone else in the facility while doing it.
Lastly, Moon is caring. It is easy to see this because Moon's father told him that if he writes a letter and burns it his dad will read it through the smoke. When Moon gets lonely throughout the book, he is always burning letters in hopes that his dad will read it through the smoke. Moon also cares about his friends a lot! Most of all, he cares about his best friend, Kit, whom he hid with in the forest from the government. Kit got sick and Moon couldn't get any good medicine. In the end, Kit died from his disease, which is unknown. Moon cried for a long time because he was so close to Kit. In the end, Moon realized that Kit was happy where he was.
I liked the book Alabama Moon. It was intriguing and interesting to learn about all the different ways humans can use nature for living and survival. For example, when Kit becomes ill, Moon creates many medicines out of TONS of mushrooms and weeds hoping to heal Kit. Another example is when Kit and Moon dug a hole under a tree so that they could stay warm under ground during winter. When a deer was killed, the boys used every part of the deer for various tasks including food from the animal, a hat from the skin, and the bones to grind up for medicine.
I was also intrigued by the different ways people in this time lived their lives without modern tools and comforts. Instead of using a scissors for a haircut, Moon's dad would put an iron clamp around Moon's head and burn the hair around it. Moon's clothing was made out of animal skins. It seemed like a way for him to both stay warm and show his pride for his kill.
I would recommend this book to just about everyone. The book was long, but it was an easy read. It has a lot of information about how to survive on one's own in a forest. I would especially recommend this book to adventurous type readers. Also, this book has a couple of twists. For instance, there are a couple of sad parts that the reader doesn't expect. The reader is reeled in by the author when Kit and his dad die because the reader wants to see how Moon is going to live without them.
I would give Alabama Moon a solid rating of 10/10! I was hooked into this book by the first chapter. I would recommend this book to everyone!
