Title β Moonrise
Author β Sarah Crossan
How I Got It β From the publisher
Pages β 400 pages
Publication Date β September 7th 2017 by Bloomsbury Childrens
ISBN β 9781408867808
My Rating β β
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/5
“They think I hurt someone.
But I didn’t. You hear?
Cos people are gonna be telling you
All kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.”
Joe hasn’t seen his older brother, Ed, in ten years and its for the worst reason. Ed is sitting on death row and his execution date has been set. This might be the last summer Joe has with his brother.
I received a copy of Moonrise from Bloomsbury Australia to review. This is the second book I’ve read by Crossan. I read One a few years ago and loved it. When I received Moonrise in the mail to review I was excited to read it.Β
I’m just going to get this out of the way now. Not a lot of books have made me cry but I’ll admit that I was actually crying at the end of this book. Actual tears! Which for me means it was a really good book and one of the reasons I gave it five stars. I just got so attached to Joe and Ed and I wanted them to have a happy ending.
In Moonrise, Ed is on death row for a crime he says he didn’t commit. I’m going to admit that I was a little skeptical at first. I know it’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty but Ed was in prison. No one wants to think the justice system screws up and that innocent people are, right now, sitting in prison for something they didn’t do. And especially not on death row. But the justice system isn’t perfect and mistakes are made. Innocent people have been executed and are imprisoned. This isn’t related to the book but, for example, Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. I believe they’re both innocent. If you haven’t seen Making a Murderer then I highly recommend it. Although it made me very angry. This book shows what happens when the justice system fails.
But it also shows what one family is willing to do for someone they love. Even if they’re aren’t sure what to believe. Ed’s family wants to be there for him at the end, when he needs them the most. Especially if it might be the last time they see each other.
Moonrise is told in verse. I’ve only read one other book told this way and it was also by Crossan and I loved that too. Even though it was sad. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to connect with the story or characters with the book being written this way but both Moonrise and One was amazing and so, so sad.
I think I might have to pick up more of Crossan’s books. This isn’t the kind of book I usually read but I could not put it down.
*Thank you Bloomsbury Australia for sending me a copy to review*
– Aimee.