Alabama Moon

Alabama Moon

By Watt Key

7 ratings 6 reviews 10 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 4 - 8Grades 3 - 8W4.175314

I could trap my own food and make my own clothes. I could find my way by the stars and make fire in the rain. Pap said he even figured I could whip somebody three times my size. He wasn't worried about me.

For as long as ten-year-old Moon can remember, he has lived out in the forest in a shelter with his father. They keep to themselves, their only contact with other human beings an occasional trip to the nearest general store. When Moon's father dies, Moon follows his father's last instructions: to travel to Alaska to find others like themselves. But Moon is soon caught and entangled in a world he doesn't know or understand, apparent property of the government he has been avoiding all his life. As the spirited and resourceful Moon encounters constables, jails, institutions, lawyers, true friends, and true enemies, he adapts his wilderness survival skills and learns to survive in the outside world, and even, perhaps, make his home there.

In this compelling, action-packed book, Watt Key gives us the thrilling coming-of-age story of the unique and extremely appealing Moon.

Alabama Moon is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Publisher: Square Fish
ISBN-13: 9780312644802
ISBN-10: 0312644809
Published on 8/3/2010
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 320

Book Reviews (7)

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zendaya21 zendaya21

if you liked this book read hachet

This is the best book its sad to. Here my report I read when I was in 4th grade it was boy named Moon who's father and mother died he was in juvenile detention. He ecasped the place.Then friend kit dies from cancer. His other friend hal went to his father I hope you like it.Me and my boyfriend watch the movie before we broke up

this was one of my favorite books it was a sad but exiting and it was interesting. my least favorite part was when the dad died and the boy was on his own and he had to go to prison a ton for living on his own

Alabama Moon is by Watt Key. It is a historical fiction book. Moon lives in the Alabama woods with his dad. When his dad dies, he goes to a boys home but not juvie. When Moon gets to the boys home, he tries to escape. He escapes with the boys from the boys home and two of the boys went in the woods with Moon and the rest stayed back. The law tries to get them. I liked the book because I like nature and like to be outdoors. In the book, Moon is about my age so we can relate. Other books by Watt Key are Dirt Road Home, Four Mile, and Terror at Bottle Creek.

The author's name is Watt Key and the book is called Alabama Moon. The book is about a boy named Moon. He lives in the wild with his dad. His dad died in the beginning of the book because he split his knee and it gets infected.They are hidden away from the government because Moon and his dad were living on somebody else's property. Moon eventually gets arrested and sent to jail. Moon brakes out of jail with his two friends Hal and Kit. The book is really good because I like stories about nature and living without technology. I like the character Moon because he knows a lot about nature and is a nice kid who wants his dad back. The book is realistic fiction because it takes place in both the wild and in jail. The book doesn't take place in the past or the future and it's on earth. You have to like violence to like this book and you NEED to like the wild. It's not a girly book there is no romance but there is drama. Moon has internal conflict about losing his dad. Moon has external conflict when Sannders takes him to jail.

The author of Alabama Moon is Watt Key. Alabama Moon is about a boy and his Pap living "off the grid" an Alabama forest. He is hiding from the government which is trying to find them. Pap has always told Moon that the government is horrible but Moon doesn't understand why his Pap says that. When Pap dies and Moon is left to make his own decisions of what is right and what is wrong. This is a very well written book. I liked this book because I've always thought about what it would be like to live off the grid and with no civilization. Also I had a hard time putting this book down because there were so many things that would leave you wondering, what's going to happen next. This book is realistic fiction. There are a lot of people like Moon and his Pap today who live off the grid and hate the government. I would recommend this book to a middle school student. The type of reader that would enjoy this would probably be someone to enjoy action and someone who is a naturalist. In the story an example of an internal conflict is when Moon is in the woods with Kit. Kit becomes sick because he didn't take his medicine. Moon is kicking himself because he realizes that he should've brought Kit's medicine into the woods with them. Moon thought that everything that anyone would need could be found in the woods but, with Kit's medicine Moon realizes that this is not true. An external conflict throughout the book is man V. man. This is apparent when Moon faces Constable Sanders. Sanders hates Moon a lot and does everything he can to hurt Moon and get him back into a boys home or jail.

Moon is a ten year old boy who has been living in the woods with his father, a veteran of the Vietnam war. His father distrusts the government, and has decided he and his son will literally live outside of its laws and reach, hidden in the Alabama woods. Moon's father teaches him to read, hunt and survive in the woods, and maintain the wooden shelter they have built. After Moon's father dies, Moon tries to follow his dying father's last wishes, and go to Alaska to find others like them. However, he is caught and turned over to the local boys home. Moon escapes, gets caught again by a bully of a constable, and is sent to reform school. After Moon punches out the reform school bully, they become friends, and with another boy, escape to the woods. The three boys' lives are forever changed as they try to stay a step ahead of the vindictive constable, confront the hardships of survival, and gain a profound perspective on what life and family means.