Moonstruck

by Monique L. Desir

The night Alexander discovers he possesses the power to control his dreams, he just knows a weird school year awaits him. After he notices random sneakers hanging on electrical wires and other peculiar details from his dreams manifesting in the “waking” world, he realizes he has won the unwanted attention of someone . . . or something. To make matters worse, his father (aka Mr. Workaholic) abandons Alexander on a business trip, leaving him with his grumpy Haitian Grandpa Jean. Alexander is surprised to learn a personal secret of his grandfather’s past—a fatal, guilt-ridden secret that threatens the fate of his family. He follows clues between two places: the “waking” world and the alternate dream world of iridescent clouds, the home of a mysterious Moon Prince and befriends a beautiful girl named Sol, a living sun. And when his mother’s life is used against him, Alexander begins a terrifying chess game to save her and several children trapped in the world of dreams and clouds. With his overactive imagination as his only weapon, Alexander must undo the mistakes of the past to rescue the people he loves

254 pages, Paperback

Published March 25, 2017

Reviews

[A.M. Justice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific middle grade novel that blends kid detective fiction, fantasy, and mythology in a story about grief and regret. The characters are well developed and the story progresses to an exciting climax as sixth grader Alex investigates the mystery of shoes hanging from telephone wires and uses his power of lucid dreaming to battle an evil deity who has plagued his family for generations. Desir's writing is often poetic, evocative, and authentic to an eleven year old latchkey child with a hospitalized mother, a father who's never home, and a grandfather whose regrets keep him emotionally distant from his family.