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A review by avalinahsbooks
Boon On The Moon by John Huddles
3.0
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
Byron, or Boon, is a nine year old with too many ideas and a powerful imagination. He will go to any lengths just to have an adventure. Any lengths in this case involves lying and sneaking away from home and constantly putting himself in danger.
But it gets to a point where Boon can't keep getting away with this. Because it seems he's the only one who doesn't realize how his actions affect others - he just waves away accusations of lying and weak character - he truly doesn't think he is at fault for all those times he sneaked out to the desert, climbed a dangerous mountain and fell down or went spelunking and nearly got crushed under the rocks.
However, this time it seems he won't get out so easily. It seems that his home state is putting him under arrest for causing constant trouble for the rescue services! It's really quite fortunate for the boy that his punishment involves moving to the Moon - something he's always wanted to do. However... He doesn't know there's danger on the Moon.
I found this book to be very diverse, and I think readers will enjoy it. Byron's mother is a Latina, and despite being a housewife, she is fully capable of fixing the atomic house power generator when nobody's at home. Byron's brother is actually his step brother - and he's Swedish-Kenyan. His parents died and Byron's folks have raised him ever since. There are many diversity elements in the book, and I've named but a few. But even the one-time characters (a policeman, a judge who are PoC - there's even an Inuit teacher!) are specifically pointed out as diverse (you can either tell by their last name or something else that's mentioned.) It's like pretty much every side character who was mentioned had some sort of interesting thing to mention about their heritage. So I think readers will enjoy this inclusivity.
Other than that, the book has a sort of "futuristic 50s" vibe. You know, kind of like in the Jetsons? They have atomic house generators, grass-powered cars, bases on the Moon... That sort of thing. It's a lovely looking future! The Moon itself is a self-governing colony of scientists, diamond miners (diamond rush!) and settlers and it felt like a utopia of sorts. I'm sure space fans will love the idea. While as a jaded adult, I had to push away thoughts of "I wish it were possible, but..", I know that as a kid I would have thought "dang, I wanna live there." It really is portrayed in an awesome way, and I think it will especially appeal to an audience of kids who love the idea of space travel and colonies in space.
The reason I'm giving it 3 and not 4 stars though, is because I didn't like the mixed message about Byron's lying that the story was giving me. On one hand, Byron is constantly said to have a problem with lying - he will promise to do one thing, then turn around and so the same bad thing again, and won't hold himself in the least at fault for this. He puts himself and his family in danger all the time. But what I didn't like was that I expected him to learn his lesson, but instead... He basically got rewarded for it?? Like I agree that if your kid sneaks away to rock climb, you shouldn't tell him not to (cause he'll still do it, AND lie about it) - instead you should give him the tools and the knowledge to learn to climb safely, maybe sign him up for a course. But that's not what the story does - basically in every instance where Byron does something like that, he ends up getting what he wants instead of getting punished. How would he have learned not to lie? If I was a kid and read this, I'd totally think that it's okay to promise something and then lie about it, because that's what makes your dream come true and you get to go to the Moon!And then your parents will decide that THEY were wrong! So basically just do whatever you want. Yeah, I really didn't like this message.
But apart from that, it was a fun space adventure written for a middle grade boy and it performed well in that role.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
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Byron, or Boon, is a nine year old with too many ideas and a powerful imagination. He will go to any lengths just to have an adventure. Any lengths in this case involves lying and sneaking away from home and constantly putting himself in danger.
But it gets to a point where Boon can't keep getting away with this. Because it seems he's the only one who doesn't realize how his actions affect others - he just waves away accusations of lying and weak character - he truly doesn't think he is at fault for all those times he sneaked out to the desert, climbed a dangerous mountain and fell down or went spelunking and nearly got crushed under the rocks.
However, this time it seems he won't get out so easily. It seems that his home state is putting him under arrest for causing constant trouble for the rescue services! It's really quite fortunate for the boy that his punishment involves moving to the Moon - something he's always wanted to do. However... He doesn't know there's danger on the Moon.
I found this book to be very diverse, and I think readers will enjoy it. Byron's mother is a Latina, and despite being a housewife, she is fully capable of fixing the atomic house power generator when nobody's at home. Byron's brother is actually his step brother - and he's Swedish-Kenyan. His parents died and Byron's folks have raised him ever since. There are many diversity elements in the book, and I've named but a few. But even the one-time characters (a policeman, a judge who are PoC - there's even an Inuit teacher!) are specifically pointed out as diverse (you can either tell by their last name or something else that's mentioned.) It's like pretty much every side character who was mentioned had some sort of interesting thing to mention about their heritage. So I think readers will enjoy this inclusivity.
Other than that, the book has a sort of "futuristic 50s" vibe. You know, kind of like in the Jetsons? They have atomic house generators, grass-powered cars, bases on the Moon... That sort of thing. It's a lovely looking future! The Moon itself is a self-governing colony of scientists, diamond miners (diamond rush!) and settlers and it felt like a utopia of sorts. I'm sure space fans will love the idea. While as a jaded adult, I had to push away thoughts of "I wish it were possible, but..", I know that as a kid I would have thought "dang, I wanna live there." It really is portrayed in an awesome way, and I think it will especially appeal to an audience of kids who love the idea of space travel and colonies in space.
The reason I'm giving it 3 and not 4 stars though, is because I didn't like the mixed message about Byron's lying that the story was giving me. On one hand, Byron is constantly said to have a problem with lying - he will promise to do one thing, then turn around and so the same bad thing again, and won't hold himself in the least at fault for this. He puts himself and his family in danger all the time. But what I didn't like was that I expected him to learn his lesson, but instead... He basically got rewarded for it?? Like I agree that if your kid sneaks away to rock climb, you shouldn't tell him not to (cause he'll still do it, AND lie about it) - instead you should give him the tools and the knowledge to learn to climb safely, maybe sign him up for a course. But that's not what the story does - basically in every instance where Byron does something like that, he ends up getting what he wants instead of getting punished. How would he have learned not to lie? If I was a kid and read this, I'd totally think that it's okay to promise something and then lie about it, because that's what makes your dream come true and you get to go to the Moon!
But apart from that, it was a fun space adventure written for a middle grade boy and it performed well in that role.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
Book Blog | Bookstagram | Bookish Twitter