FernFolio

Conditioned by his experiences, both at school and at home, eleven-year old Billy Ray has learned not to expect much from life.  His inability to read more than a handful of simple words or to recall numbers, and his hyperactivity in class have made him the butt of his classmates’ taunts and putdowns.  At home, his parents’ hard drinking has caused a roller coaster of good moments and bad.
When his mother’s pregnancy results in her seeking help for her alcoholism and then issuing an ultimatum to Billy’s father to either stop drinking or move out, Billy watches as his dad packs up his things and goes.  His assurances to Billy that he’ll be in touch are empty promises.  So, with his mother off working long days cleaning rooms at a local motel, Billy finds himself practising tricks with his yo-yo, the birthday present he received when he wanted a water pistol and a skateboard.  When he learns that a nearby public park is going to hold a talent contest, to raise money for a local kids’ charity, and that the prize will be twenty-five dollars, Billy decides to enter.  Mastering the twenty-one tricks shown in the book he got with the yo-yo prove easy for Billy, but finding someone to sponsor him by donating money to the children’s charity proves more difficult.
Across the street from Billy’s rundown apartment stands a big, well-kept house, and often, in those hot July days leading up to the talent contests, a girl sits on the front steps of that house drawing and writing in a yellow notebook she has on her lap.  Curious about the girl and what she is doing, Billy approaches her and discovers that, though Natasha Arnold is friendly and welcoming to him, she does not speak.  Through her drawings and gestures, as well as what he overhears from neighbours, Billy learns that Natasha has been adopted from a Romanian orphanage by Mr. and Mrs. Arnold, a wealthy couple who want desperately to help Natasha to overcome the traumas of her early childhood.  But she has a secret that is weighing her down, one that she is going to need Billy’s help to confront.  In reaching out to support Natasha, Billy will also find the courage to face his own sense of helplessness and inadequacy.
The Moon Children is a story about a young boy’s struggle to live with dignity while coping with the lifelong effects of foetal alcohol syndrome, about a young girl’s attempts to reconcile her past with her present and future, and about how, together, they are able to see and understand what is truly important.  Well worth a read!
FernFolio Editor