Talking to the Moon

This is a story about a young girl searching for a connection to her roots. Katie is an 11-year-old foster child who also has autism. She was four years old when her birth mother, “Moonbeam,” gave her up, and she has very few memories of her birth family. When she visits Nova Scotia, she starts to feel a need to learn about her past, and with the help of two older ladies, Jessie and Aggie, she learns about their ancestors and makes a connection to her own possible story. The relationships among them are nice and strong and very believable. The characters are well developed and easy to connect to. Katie is real and likable even though she is quirky. The history from the 1700s and Catherine is nicely woven into Katie’s own quest to find her own story. It connects well to Katie’s ability to feel a sense of belonging somewhere. The book is well written and descriptive, although some of the story is hard to follow and sometimes seems to go off in different directions. Overall I recommend this for 10-14-year-olds, especially those who like to read stories that look back in time and connect it to those in the present.