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mariahistryingtoread's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The Cursed Moon is a 2024 Sunshine State pick for Grades 3-5 which was my entire basis for picking it up.
I found it decent enough though largely rote. Often times it is fairly easy to get an idea of where a middle grade book is going to go either because it is for children, because the author is writing a common premise for the genre or some mixture of both. So I knew the trajectory of the story thematically even if I did not know exactly how every single little story beat would play out.
All of this is to explain partially why I found the story rather average. There is nothing wrong with being average. I'd wager the majority of books are simply average. It's hard to write a book at all, let alone one that is truly fantastic. Admittedly, when you read as much middle grade as I do and have similarly high standards, it is also harder to be dazzled.
Even so, The Cursed Moon does have an interesting angle that could have been explored that it chooses to ignore so I feel comfortable in being more negatively inclined towards it than I normally would be.
The underlying emotional thread of the story is what kind of relationship Rafa wants or should have with his neglectful mother Nikki who will be released from prison soon. Rafa is adamantly opposed to any kind of reconciliation. The rest of his family is desperate to give Nikki another chance.
The problem is that all we ever get is reasons why Rafa should never forgive her and is correct to be on guard, even though by the end we are supposed to understand that Rafa was being close-minded out of fear.
I disagree with the idea that abusive parents are owed a relationship with their children or even a chance to fix it. I was wholeheartedly on Rafa's side about not trusting her especially as charming anecdotes like, him having to sell the literal shirt off his back to a group of random teenagers to get ten dollars to buy food for him and his sister after their mother abandoned them for hours in the car they were living in, would occasionally come up.
I did not like how much the key people in his life - little sister Brianna and his abuelos - tried to lowkey pressure him to be more accepting without the narrative making it explicitly clear it was wrong for them to do so. It is okay to be hopeful. It is okay to want to rebuild a relationship with a person who hurt you. It is okay to give them another chance. But, that is a personal choice that should be made on an individual timeline.
If Nikki has changed or is going to be a good mom she should be able to accept combative attitude and behavior. It is part of the healing process and is deserved. This book instead modifies Rafa to be more receptive before Nikki returns without proving that that trust is not misguided in the first place.
I think it coasts a lot on the fact that many people do not view neglect in the same way as abuse even though most neglect is also abusive. It also attempts to subtly undermine a lot of weight to Nikki's actions by highlighting her addiction.
Regardless of this distinction, the damage is the same so intentions or motivations don't much matter when you consider impact. I can be sympathetic to the way addiction works while simultaneously not allowing her to dodge accountability for what are still, at the end of the day, her choices.
The book ends without a single word on the page from this woman. How can I possible believe that she has turned over a new leaf without even an apology? Rafa has all these letters from her he refuses to open. Why not have him at least open one up so we can better understand where she is coming from? She says she's changed? Let the reader be the judge of how likely that is.
Better yet, why not have her be released at the beginning of the book and instead of the scary story being about a park caretaker, let it be a caretaker as in parent to create parallels between Rafa's experiences with her as a parent in the past vs present day and the nightmare he has unleashed? I honestly thought when I read 'The Caretaker' as the title of the monster that that was going to be the plot.
This book promotes the idea that you should always be willing to give people chances because they might mean it, but they don't actually have to do any work. Actions are far more important than words. As actively demonstrated in the story when Rafa's single happy moment of his mother is when he fell down the stairs and at the hospital he overheard her promising God if he was okay she would do better only for her to relapse again a month later, words are ultimately meaningless without follow through.
Being willing to risk disappointment is a necessary part of life because meaningful relationships are impossible without vulnerability. So Rafa - and by extension the reader - do need to learn this lesson except I really think the book does him a disservice by putting so much of the onus on him when he is the child. Particularly when you consider the fact that he already has taken on so much responsibility for his mother, in general, due to her abandonment. It is extremely unfair that in the one instance where he is finally safe enough to be the angry, resentful child he is expected to suck it up because he must be the ‘grown-up’ his mother forced him to be through her abuse.
Family therapy is mentioned to ease the transition and work through the complicated feelings which is great. But, again, because the entirety of the story takes place before Nikki ever arrives we never actually get to read about Rafa expressing himself or being validated for his anxiety in a therapy session. Most of the book is Rafa grappling with this perceived threat to this safe space he has established while his abuelos and sister are quietly (and not so quietly) disappointed in him for not being the bigger person.
If you’ve ever read Becoming Naomi Leon, I kept imagining Rafa’s mother like Namoi’s and we all know how that story ended.
All in all, a generally fine story that had a chance to stand out that was squandered. I find the overall message regarding his mother harmful, however, I think sketchy messaging is simply part and parcel for the Sunshine State awards. For example, last year’s pick Escape completely ignored domestic violence against the main character by his father. This is the worst book on the list I’ve read so far, but to keep it in perspective it is not even close to being one of the worst books I’ve ever read.
I found it decent enough though largely rote. Often times it is fairly easy to get an idea of where a middle grade book is going to go either because it is for children, because the author is writing a common premise for the genre or some mixture of both. So I knew the trajectory of the story thematically even if I did not know exactly how every single little story beat would play out.
All of this is to explain partially why I found the story rather average. There is nothing wrong with being average. I'd wager the majority of books are simply average. It's hard to write a book at all, let alone one that is truly fantastic. Admittedly, when you read as much middle grade as I do and have similarly high standards, it is also harder to be dazzled.
Even so, The Cursed Moon does have an interesting angle that could have been explored that it chooses to ignore so I feel comfortable in being more negatively inclined towards it than I normally would be.
The underlying emotional thread of the story is what kind of relationship Rafa wants or should have with his neglectful mother Nikki who will be released from prison soon. Rafa is adamantly opposed to any kind of reconciliation. The rest of his family is desperate to give Nikki another chance.
The problem is that all we ever get is reasons why Rafa should never forgive her and is correct to be on guard, even though by the end we are supposed to understand that Rafa was being close-minded out of fear.
I disagree with the idea that abusive parents are owed a relationship with their children or even a chance to fix it. I was wholeheartedly on Rafa's side about not trusting her especially as charming anecdotes like, him having to sell the literal shirt off his back to a group of random teenagers to get ten dollars to buy food for him and his sister after their mother abandoned them for hours in the car they were living in, would occasionally come up.
I did not like how much the key people in his life - little sister Brianna and his abuelos - tried to lowkey pressure him to be more accepting without the narrative making it explicitly clear it was wrong for them to do so. It is okay to be hopeful. It is okay to want to rebuild a relationship with a person who hurt you. It is okay to give them another chance. But, that is a personal choice that should be made on an individual timeline.
If Nikki has changed or is going to be a good mom she should be able to accept combative attitude and behavior. It is part of the healing process and is deserved. This book instead modifies Rafa to be more receptive before Nikki returns without proving that that trust is not misguided in the first place.
I think it coasts a lot on the fact that many people do not view neglect in the same way as abuse even though most neglect is also abusive. It also attempts to subtly undermine a lot of weight to Nikki's actions by highlighting her addiction.
Regardless of this distinction, the damage is the same so intentions or motivations don't much matter when you consider impact. I can be sympathetic to the way addiction works while simultaneously not allowing her to dodge accountability for what are still, at the end of the day, her choices.
The book ends without a single word on the page from this woman. How can I possible believe that she has turned over a new leaf without even an apology? Rafa has all these letters from her he refuses to open. Why not have him at least open one up so we can better understand where she is coming from? She says she's changed? Let the reader be the judge of how likely that is.
Better yet, why not have her be released at the beginning of the book and instead of the scary story being about a park caretaker, let it be a caretaker as in parent to create parallels between Rafa's experiences with her as a parent in the past vs present day and the nightmare he has unleashed? I honestly thought when I read 'The Caretaker' as the title of the monster that that was going to be the plot.
This book promotes the idea that you should always be willing to give people chances because they might mean it, but they don't actually have to do any work. Actions are far more important than words. As actively demonstrated in the story when Rafa's single happy moment of his mother is when he fell down the stairs and at the hospital he overheard her promising God if he was okay she would do better only for her to relapse again a month later, words are ultimately meaningless without follow through.
Being willing to risk disappointment is a necessary part of life because meaningful relationships are impossible without vulnerability. So Rafa - and by extension the reader - do need to learn this lesson except I really think the book does him a disservice by putting so much of the onus on him when he is the child. Particularly when you consider the fact that he already has taken on so much responsibility for his mother, in general, due to her abandonment. It is extremely unfair that in the one instance where he is finally safe enough to be the angry, resentful child he is expected to suck it up because he must be the ‘grown-up’ his mother forced him to be through her abuse.
Family therapy is mentioned to ease the transition and work through the complicated feelings which is great. But, again, because the entirety of the story takes place before Nikki ever arrives we never actually get to read about Rafa expressing himself or being validated for his anxiety in a therapy session. Most of the book is Rafa grappling with this perceived threat to this safe space he has established while his abuelos and sister are quietly (and not so quietly) disappointed in him for not being the bigger person.
If you’ve ever read Becoming Naomi Leon, I kept imagining Rafa’s mother like Namoi’s and we all know how that story ended.
All in all, a generally fine story that had a chance to stand out that was squandered. I find the overall message regarding his mother harmful, however, I think sketchy messaging is simply part and parcel for the Sunshine State awards. For example, last year’s pick Escape completely ignored domestic violence against the main character by his father. This is the worst book on the list I’ve read so far, but to keep it in perspective it is not even close to being one of the worst books I’ve ever read.
forsidious's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Overall a pretty good scary story about maintaining optimism even when things are tough, and writing your own endings. Raf is a sweet kid who has gone through a lot protecting his sister while is mom neglected them while struggling with presumably substance use, and later incarceration. He resents his mom for everything they went through, but ultimately finds a way to start forgiving her for himself.
I don't love some of the attitudes in the book from the grandparents and his sister pushing him to forgive his mom when he's not ready, and not really acknowledging what she put him through. He's in therapy, which is good, but they don't seem to get it and how he's still looking out for his sister in inappropriate ways (such as buying her a jacket). Ms. Martin ends up providing a much needed support for him, and I love their relationship. I also really liked the relationship with Cash developing and the underlying familial prejudice that Cash had, and him putting it aside to befriend someone he has a lot in common with.
The sister turns against Raf really quickly and is consistently bringing up things and throwing them in his face when they weren't his fault? Like he had an accident on his bike and she hurts her wrist but she's constantly bringing it up and acting like he did it on purpose. Then she calls him worse than their mom (who literally dragged them around the city at night and got kicked out of shelters, abandoned them in a car without food, and ultimately couldn't care for them) because he "almost broke her wrist," stretched the truth a few times, and is clearly distressed about his mom coming home and doesn't want to read her letters. She later acknowledges that she didn't realize who much he looked out for her, but this was said in front of the grandparents and they said NOTHING to support Raf.
The overall plot is interesting with stories coming true if they're told on the blood moon. The solution was far too simple for it to have taken as long as it did for it to get worked out. A lot of unanswered questions:Raf keeps saying he needs all the journals, but never why? And he ends up not using them... And how did the caretaker get the journals from Tessa? And why did everyone forget what happened? And who was the caretaker? How did it all start? Was he Tessa's creation, or was he around before that? Where did he come from? The story was interesting enough for me to want more to get the answers
Did not like the amount of religion being brought into a children's story. There's a 6th grader who literally wants to be a saint, which is ridiculous. If that was ever plot relevant I could forgive it, but the blood moon superstition has nothing to do with Catholicism, and the kid's saint dream is never used beyond bad jokes and constant useless promises that he'll pray for them. If anything, his holier than thou attitude and refusal to stand up for Raf to Cash in any substantial way is grating. Cash and Raf become friends completely without his help (or his prayers smh).
C - 7, A - 9, W - 8, P - 8, I - 9, L - 5, E - 7
I don't love some of the attitudes in the book from the grandparents and his sister pushing him to forgive his mom when he's not ready, and not really acknowledging what she put him through. He's in therapy, which is good, but they don't seem to get it and how he's still looking out for his sister in inappropriate ways (such as buying her a jacket). Ms. Martin ends up providing a much needed support for him, and I love their relationship. I also really liked the relationship with Cash developing and the underlying familial prejudice that Cash had, and him putting it aside to befriend someone he has a lot in common with.
The sister turns against Raf really quickly and is consistently bringing up things and throwing them in his face when they weren't his fault? Like he had an accident on his bike and she hurts her wrist but she's constantly bringing it up and acting like he did it on purpose. Then she calls him worse than their mom (who literally dragged them around the city at night and got kicked out of shelters, abandoned them in a car without food, and ultimately couldn't care for them) because he "almost broke her wrist," stretched the truth a few times, and is clearly distressed about his mom coming home and doesn't want to read her letters. She later acknowledges that she didn't realize who much he looked out for her, but this was said in front of the grandparents and they said NOTHING to support Raf.
The overall plot is interesting with stories coming true if they're told on the blood moon. The solution was far too simple for it to have taken as long as it did for it to get worked out. A lot of unanswered questions:
Did not like the amount of religion being brought into a children's story. There's a 6th grader who literally wants to be a saint, which is ridiculous. If that was ever plot relevant I could forgive it, but the blood moon superstition has nothing to do with Catholicism, and the kid's saint dream is never used beyond bad jokes and constant useless promises that he'll pray for them. If anything, his holier than thou attitude and refusal to stand up for Raf to Cash in any substantial way is grating. Cash and Raf become friends completely without his help (or his prayers smh).
C - 7, A - 9, W - 8, P - 8, I - 9, L - 5, E - 7
yaddyv's review
5.0
I like the themes that are explored. Is a scary story but the themes are relatable for some people. Like not having stable housing, living in a shelter , having an incarcerated parent. The Spanglish wording was a plus. Is such a cute story ..
thenextgenlibrarian's review
mysterious
medium-paced
3.25
A spooky ghost story for MG readers.
🌕
Rafa loves writing scary stories. It’s the only part of school he does well in, but when he tells a ghost story the night of the blood moon, it starts coming true. With his mom coming home soon from jail, his sister worried about his erratic behavior and a frenemy getting in his way, things are already rough for Rafa. Thank goodness he has Ms. Martin to help piece together the story of The Caretaker as he tries to stop him for good.
🌑
This was a solid scary book for middle grade readers. I believe the underlining story about Rafa and his mom was my favorite part, as well as the bond between Rafa and Brianna, but kids will also love the spooky vibes throughout the entire novel.
CW: prison, incarceration, death, death of a sibling (recounted), injury
A little too much religion throughout the story for my tastes.
🌕
Rafa loves writing scary stories. It’s the only part of school he does well in, but when he tells a ghost story the night of the blood moon, it starts coming true. With his mom coming home soon from jail, his sister worried about his erratic behavior and a frenemy getting in his way, things are already rough for Rafa. Thank goodness he has Ms. Martin to help piece together the story of The Caretaker as he tries to stop him for good.
🌑
This was a solid scary book for middle grade readers. I believe the underlining story about Rafa and his mom was my favorite part, as well as the bond between Rafa and Brianna, but kids will also love the spooky vibes throughout the entire novel.
CW: prison, incarceration, death, death of a sibling (recounted), injury
A little too much religion throughout the story for my tastes.
atuckerdye's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
litlover13's review
4.0
I received a galley of this book at the ALA conference.
This is a perfectly scary book for middle grade. Rafa is a well developed character, and his family life is relatable to many kids in America. His mom is incarcerated in prison and will be released soon for good behavior. Rafa and his sister have been living with their grandparents. Rafa loves to tell scary stories. When Rafa tells scary stories on a blood red moon the scary stories come to life and the caretaker is coming to him! Just enough spooky to leave readers leaving the light on at night. I would give this to fans of Ellen Oh or Linsday Currie.
This is a perfectly scary book for middle grade. Rafa is a well developed character, and his family life is relatable to many kids in America. His mom is incarcerated in prison and will be released soon for good behavior. Rafa and his sister have been living with their grandparents. Rafa loves to tell scary stories. When Rafa tells scary stories on a blood red moon the scary stories come to life and the caretaker is coming to him! Just enough spooky to leave readers leaving the light on at night. I would give this to fans of Ellen Oh or Linsday Currie.
libraryofawesome's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
leynafaye's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0