| A
story of rivers and brave lives--
A New York Public
Library Best Book
for the Teenage
"With an
unusual
richness of detail
and character, this novel... grips readers with its excitement and
suspense....[Plot]
threads come together in a rip-roaring finish where good and evil
clash....
Carter does a fine job of creating lifelike characters and a plot that
allows historical detail and events to unfold without taking over. It
is
Jeremy's story and growth that hold the reader. The natural color and
detail
of the past flow through, shaping and enriching the narrative. This is
good historical fiction, with issues of justice, racism, and the
environment
woven into the action-packed plot." --School Library Journal
"A
fascinating
period that rarely
gets its due in children's literature." --Bulletin for the Center
for Children's Books
"[A]
reverent
tribute to a simpler
era." -- Booklist
"...a
climactic
conclusion and tidy
epilogue." --Publishers Weekly
"A
seamless story.
There is not
a character, a scene, or an idea out of place in the entire
structure."
--Richard
Boudreau, editor
of The Literary Heritage of Wisconsin
"A
wonderful tale
of bringing beauty
to the world by healing old wounds." -- Highlands
Regional Library Cooperative
"A
panoramic
portrait of a Wisconsin
community during the second decade of the twentieth century." --
Horn Book Guide
"Crescent
Moon
[is] a tribute to
all the people who helped shape history in this part of the
country.
Carter crafts his tale as finely as Uncle Mac crafts his statue." -- Signal
Journal
"A quiet
story for
a thoughtful
reader, [Crescent Moon] would be useful co-curricular reading for
middle
school studies of 19th-20th century American history." -- Tri-State
YA Book Review Committee, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
"A quiet
story of
a simpler era."
--
Southwestern Ohio Young Adult Materials Review Group
"This
thoughtful,
well-written novel
is engrossing and will be enjoyed by history- and adventure-loving
middle
level boys and girls. The epilogue...offers...the perfect finish
to a good book." -- VOYA
"Jeremy
is one of
the fortunate
few who sees the importance of the new and modern as well as the value
of the old and time-tested." -- Lorgnette, Texas, Public
Schools
"The
major focus
of this story is
multicultural respect... Good for 7th grade U.S. history students." --
Mojave High School
"As he
assists his
uncle with a
wood carving, Jeremy learns lessons about life that
prove...valuable
as he approaches manhood." -- Childhood Education
"Jeremy
and his
uncle carve a statue
of a Chippewa maiden as a tribute the vanishing culture of
her people."
-- Richardson, Texas, School District
"A good
historical
look at small
town life." -- Columbia, Washington, School District
"The
author is
very knowledgeable
about this historic time period and has taken the historical fiction
format
as a vehicle for enlightening us all."
-- Puget Sound
Councilor
"I was so
much
into the story that
... I shed a few tears with Jeremy. Great YA book." --
South
Jersey Regional Library Cooperative
"A
wonderful story
written with
a terrific fluid style. Readers of all ages will enjoy Crescent
Moon." -- Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium
"A
breathtaking
novel that flows
like the Chippewa River it describes. This book is highly
recommended
for both school and public libraries for readers in middle and high
school,
especially for fans of the Dear America and My Name is America books. Crescent
Moon is a gem that should not be
missed." -- Catholic Library World
"The
story of
Jeremy's personal
growth as he realizes the old ways do not have to be forgotten in the
name
of progress in interwoven with historical information about child labor
laws and the violence encountered when unions try to form in the big
logging
companies. This is a great book to introduce a unit on the turn
of
the nineteenth century." -- Infotech
This is a
book about bridges, the physical ones that span places and the
emotional ones that span lives. Jeremy has been forbidden by his father
to cross the railroad trestle bridge yet, at a critical juncture in the
story, he walks across the bridge to save his own life. Jeremy, at age
twelve, is crossing other intangible bridges, as well. His once
prosperous mill town is losing lumber jobs to the great Northwest, and
Jeremy and his friends go through the economic turmoil of lost work and
changing lifestyles. Jeremy's uncle, Mac, an artisan, is working to
capture the loss of the Chippewa culture of Northern Wisconsin in a
beautiful carving of an Indian woman. Jeremy participates in the
project, once again learning to be a bridge from the past. In the
process, he gains respect for the dying native culture, and especially
for the beautiful woman who models for the statue and is Jeremy's first
infatuation. It is the characters in this book, as skillfully crafted
as Uncle Mac's "Crescent Moon" statue, that make this book a standout
in the coming-of-age genre. --Barnes & Noble
FROM THE BOOK
JACKET OF CRESCENT
MOON:
The whole world is
changing, and
Jeremy Callahan means to be a part of it. He's not going to be left
behind,
not him. There are new inventions, like airplanes, which he loves, and
new ways of doing things. The twentieth century beckons, and he plans
to
follow it.
But his Uncle Mac
has a different
way of approaching life. A woodcarver, he has old-fashioned tastes and
ideas. To celebrate the past, Uncle Mac wants to carve a statue in a
pine
taken from the last log drive ever held on the Chippewa River. As
Jeremy
begins to help him, he learns that a craftsman's care can shape and
change
not only a statue but also a life.
--
Among the
people
you'll meet in
Jeremy and his great-uncle's world:
Mike
Callahan,
Jeremy's father,
young businessman on the rise whose life is shadowed by a great loss.
Murphy,
one of the
mighty lumberjacks
who tamed the North and a man to have on your side in a fight.
Sven,
lumberjack
and labor organizer,
determined to bring a better life to working families or die in the
attempt.
Soupy,
the aging,
silent logger
who looks after his two tumultuous friends.
Willie
and Eddy
Cripshank, Jeremy's
friends who are forced to go to work in the mill when their no-account
father loses his job.
Hans
Weister,
small-time gangster
and a sinister presence on the streets of Eau Claire.
Nathan
Two-Horse,
the old Chippewa
who teaches Jeremy how the past and the present are joined in ways
Jeremy
never imagined.
and
Nancy
Two-Horse,
who thrills Jeremy's
heart with her beauty and makes him wonder about the future they might
build together.
Holiday
House $16.95 (ISBN
0-8234-1521-X)
Order #: 1-212-688-0085
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