Vivid, affecting story about a family struggling to heal from great personal tragedy. An impressive debut novel. ( )

Was an okay book done well for its intended audience (YA). I fell in love Dellie and the young boy Corey, found myself wanting to reach in the book and help. Little to simple for adults and may not hold attention for some advanced young adults but, all in all, I would recommend. ( )

Full review on Reader's Dialogue: http://readersdialogue.blogspot.com/2011/03/trouble-with-half-moon.html

The voice of the novel, told in Dellie's words, is completely engaging and so real. It's straightforward, clear, and emotional at all the right points. Dellie's feelings are clearly portrayed, through her own words and through the things she does and the way she reacts to everything. Without Dellie coming straight out and telling the reader, her thoughts and reactions are very clear from the way she talks about what's going on. The way she deals with her grieving mother comes across especially well, as she talks about her mother's daily actions in an understated, matter-of-fact manner.

The themes of grief, blame, guilt, and love are all portrayed exceptionally well, on all levels of the plot. Dellie's interactions with Corey showcase how she feels about her brother, but the subplot of Dellie and Kayla's friendship helps bring these themes into greater relief, as Dellie grapples with the guilt, blame, and love of that relationship.

All the relationships of the story are shown really well. Every single one feels real and believable. I love the relationship between Dellie and Corey, and the one between Dellie and her dad as well. Both of those made me smile many times, and both felt completely natural - all of the relationships in the book do, really, but these two in particular struck me as extremely real.

Though told from a middle-schooler's point of view, there are shades of meaning in each character and their interactions. This book does something that is really tricky - it works well for giving middle-grade readers a real, clear picture of what could go on in real life, in relationships and in someone's own mind, and at the same time it gives enough information that an adult could pick up on and understand certain points that a middle-grade reader would not pick up on. I really like that. This book is definitely meant for middle-grade readers, but their parents can read along with them and enjoy and appreciate the book as well. ( )

I'll admit that I had a really hard time with this book. At first I couldn't decide if it's because it's considered Middle Grade reading and maybe I was expecting too much or if it just isn't my style. What I decided is that there was so much detail - every tiny conversation - but I didn't get any emotion, just words. This could have been a very powerful story, but it was just words on paper.

Dellie's brother died the summer before the book begins, but no one says what happened to him, but it seems that Dellie thinks it's her fault. Her mom stays in her room and cries a lot and her dad seems to try to make things 'normal' again. She has the usual teen troubles - she likes a boy but isn't sure he likes her; her best friend gets made at her and she doesn't know why. In the midst of all this, a new family moves into the building. A little boy like her brother was. Dellie takes a special interest in the boy and feels like it's her responsibility to take care of him. ( )

"I'm pleased you had mind enough to ask," Miss Shirley says. She walks over to the moon and uses her finger to trace where the other half should be. "Just because we cannot see this half of the moon doesn't mean it's not there," she says, studying me. "We know this without having to actually see it." She points to her eyes. Her fingernails are sparkly gold. "You have to believe it's there. Faith, young one," she says, balling up her fist, "is powerful."

When Dellie's little brother is killed in an accident, her life turns upside down and stays that way. Even though her brother has been gone for months, Dellie's mom still cries almost daily over his picture, and Dellie can't even walk to school without her father going along. She's hardly allowed outside for fear that something might happen. Dellie's home in the projects might not be the safest place, but what she wouldn't give for a little freedom to hang out with her best friend Kayla or to take a walk with Michael Ortiz and find out if he really likes her.

Little does Dellie know that life will get tougher before it gets easier. When a hungry little boy named Corey who lives on the first floor of her building shows up at her door, she can't help desperately wanting to save him from his neglectful mother and his mother's no-good boyfriend. She hopes almost without realizing it that saving Corey will absolve her from the guilt she carries about her brother's death, but at the same time she's terrified that he will believe in her and she will fail him like she thinks she failed her brother.

The Trouble With Half a Moon is a bittersweet story about a girl growing up with grief and a family going through the long process of healing. Vigilante presents Dellie in an engaging first-person narration that slowly reveals Dellie's many fears and the terrible guilt she carries with her without revealing the circumstances until late in the story. Even while pursuing her larger themes Vigilante doesn't spare the everyday details of Dellie's life. She vividly captures the embarassment and unfairness of bullying as well as the excitement and uncertainty of first "love" in a way that can make even an older reader feel all those feelings all over again. The heart of the book, though, is Dellie and her family's journey out of their grief. It's heartwrenching to see the fear Dellie has of loving after enduring such a loss, and heartwarming to see how a mysterious new neighbor named Miss Shirley and Corey bring Dellie and her family back to life. ( )