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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

Title: Moonglass
Author: Jessi Kirby
Pages: 232
Published: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Goodreads Summary: When Anna was little, she and her mother used to search for sea glass, but since they looked at night, they called it moonglass. Now, ten years after her mother's mysterious death, her father is working as head lifeguard on the same beach where her mother grew up and her parents first met and fell in love. Reluctant to get close to anyone (including her father) and not pleased about having to start at a new school, Anna begins to spend more time alone, running the length of the beach and wondering about who her mother really was. After meeting a lifeguard named Tyler, she slowly lets her guard down and together they start exploring the abandoned houses that dot the beach. But when learning more about her mother's past leads to a painful discovery, Anna must reconcile her desire for solitude with ultimately accepting the love of her family and friends."

Review:
Moonglass was very unique in many ways. I also think it was a very nice, light, and easy read, perfect for a book read by the beach.
First off, I loved Anna. She is strong, yet weak at the same time. She shares a special connection with her mother, collecting sea glass, or "moonglass", and their memories at the beach are as sharp as ever to Anna. She has dreamy thoughts of her mother as a mermaid in the ocean, and is drawn to her.
The plot of this book is very simple and plain, by I loved it anyways. Anna and her father move to the beach where her father and mother first met. Anna isn't happy at first, and is naive and confused about it. She meets Ashley, a hyper and kind girl, and she reminds me of Sharpay Evans from High School Musical, how she is blonde and covered in pink. But Ashley is very kind to Anna, and is the first to befriend her.
Anna also joins her school's cross country team, meeting Jillian. Anna and Jillian are at first enemies (since they are the most competitive and fastest on the team), but soon Anna finds out about Jillian's past, and relates to her immediately. I liked Anna and Jillian's friendship, how they could connect to each other over someone they both lost.
And then there is Tyler, a lifeguard that works under Anna's father's watchful eye. Anna is immediately drawn to Tyler, and even when it took awhile to befriend him, they do. And not long after, they become a couple.
After Anna is settled into the new beach, she starts searching for any remains or past items that once belonged to her mother. I loved how everything was so mysterious, especially when Anna is swimming in the ocean. The way Kirby describes the ocean floor, I felt like I was swimming beside Anna, seeing everything she saw. The beach and the ocean was a great place for a setting, I think.
The ending for this book was very subtle and sweet. I was satisfied when Anna and her father bond. Overall, I loved the characters, and even though there wasn't really a problem-problem, Anna is just recovering from her mother's suicidal death at her new home. I thought the plot was very unique, surrounding the thought of sea glass. A dreamy and touching novel, I thought this was an awesome debut novel of Jessi Kirby's!


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