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MOONRISE

Sarah Crossan

Book Presentation

Lucy Ellis

OVERVIEW

Overview

  • Moonrise is a young adults fiction novel
  • It was published in September 2017 in the UK.
  • Crossan wrote the entire novel in free verse- each chapter is a poem .

THE BLURB

WHY MOONRISE?

  • I recognised the author's name in the library- previously read 'One'.
  • I was intrigued by the dark cover- this is unusual for me.
  • After reading the blurb I was interested in the topic- we had talked about it in religion class.

The blurb

Author

About

Sarah Crossan

TIMELINE

Sarah Crossan's

Life

She moved to New Jersey where she taught at a Private High School.

She got a degree in Philosophy and Literature. In 2003 she went to the University of Warwick and got a master in creative writing.

Over the years she has written many young adult books – seven in total

She was born in 1981 and grew up in Dublin.

She then went on to study at the University of Cambridge to become an English and drama teacher.

PICTURES

She co-wrote a book with her husband John Dominic called ‘Resurrecting Easter- How the West Lost and the East Kept the Original Easter Vision’

She won the CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as the YA Book Prize, the CBI Book of the Year award and the CLiPPA Poetry Award for her novel, One.

Cultural Context

Setting

  • The novel is set in present day American. We know this because of the use of phones etc.
  • It is based around a poverty stricken family from New York.
  • It is also interesting to note that the race of the character is not mentioned- this is left up to readers personal interpretation.

Storyline

Plot

BACKGROUND

SYNOPSIS

Joseph Moon used to live in Arlington in Virginia with his mother,older brother Edward,sister Angela and father however, their dad brutally got hit in the head and got killed when the children were very young.Their mother now lives alone because she abuses alcohol.She regularly neglected them at home.

Ten years ago Ed was wrongly accused of murdering a policeman when he was out one night. One thing led to another and he ended up on Death Row in Texas.

Joe's mother left them after he was sent to prison. Their Aunt Karen stepped in however she did not care about her niece and nephews.

Over the summer of Joe's seventeenth birthday Ed is given his execution date (18th of August)

After previously receiving letters from his older brother, Joe decides to visit him one last time against his aunt's will. They have very little money to spare however Joe's sister Angela works long hours at her job.

Joe decides to venture to Wakeling in Texas for his summer vacation instead of going to a Track and Field Internship in New York with his friend Reed.

He moves into a run down apartment swarming with cockroaches, without clean water or electricity and pays $500 in rent.

To pay for this he needs a job. He walks into ' Bob's Diner ' in search of one. Her he meets Sue who is a mother-like figure to him and Nell the young waiter who lives in Wakeling due to her Dad's job. They offer him the job of a Delivery boy if he can fix the car. Joe spends his days working on the car under the sun and gets food from the diner.

In the evenings he hangs out with Nell our the town.

Every afternoon Joe visits his brother .

TIMELINE

Joe's life

The book is not completely written in chronological order. There frequently are flashbacks .

Therefore a timeline greatly helped me understand the story better.

When Joe was aged 9 their mom left for good and their aunt Karen moved in

Karen took Joe on a trip to New York . they light candles and prayed for their family because she believed ed was guilty

Their pet cat Coco falls ill and their mother tells them to kill it however Ed refuses. This begins their hostile relationship

Ed's execution date was set and their family visited him in Wakeling Texas

Ed got his driver's license and went for a ride in the car with Joe and Angela: after he dropped them home her went to 'get milk' and he never returned

Their Father died when he was hit in the back back of the head with a a billiard ball

Ed is sentenced to death and is moved to Wakeling Prison . Has not been visited for a decade

Karen came home from a trial and said she confirmed that Ed was guilty. their mother collapsed and cried on the floor. Joe was 8 years old

Ed had to go to Joe's Parent teacher meeting because their mother forgot. This caused Ed and their mother to fight

He was caught a few days later in a gas station and brought to jail. he was put on trial and found guilty fairly quickly after he admitted to killing Frank Pheelin

Joe (Aged 7) was on a school trip that day

Ed was out driving one night when he got pulled over by a cop. He was scared because he didn't have his documents as it was his aunts car.He fled. later that night the cop was killed by someone else.

Characters

Characters

THE MOON BROTHERS

Edward

Joseph

•He is talented at track and field – he should be in NYC at a Track and Field scholarship

•He is vulnerable and scared -he travelled all alone to Wakeling

•He fell in love with a co-worker Nell at Bob’s Diner

•He is very poor and slyly steals food, wallets etc from people.

• He is determined to get the car to work in the diner in order to get the job of their delivery boy. It is a long shot however he gives it a go.

• Angela and Ed worked hard shoveling drive ways to make money to pay for Joe's Christmas He would not let their cat Coco pass away even though their mother told them to throw her away.

• He was stubborn with his mother because she didn't care for her children

• He stole his aunt Karen's car

•He is learning law and Spanish in jail to pass the time

• He is isolated -he went nearly 10 years without anyone visiting

•As his execution date came closer he still had a sense of humour and stayed positive by making jokes

• he was hard-done-by and unlucky in so many ways

  • They have a tight bond and share similar personalities and senses of humour.
  • They both steal small things eg gum
  • Ed is like Joe's father and brother and friend.
  • Joe has looked up to Ed his whole life and was really shook up when he found that 'killed someone'

'' What I need is for Ed to say I have a fighting chance of becoming a decent man someday ''

MAIN CHARACTERS

Philip Miller

Nell's Father

prison master

Aunt Karen

  • Protective of Joe and Angela
  • Hardworking- provides food for her sisters family- stepped in
  • Troubled by the trial- haunted her
  • Didn't care how they felt she just cared about what the family looked like from the outside- their image

Dad

died when children were young- he was hit by a billiard ball in the back of the neck

Mom

  • Selfish- does not care about her children's welfare
  • Irresponsible- she stayed in bead all day for months then one day went out and never came back
  • alcoholic

Nell

  • Indie- likes old Music and vinyls
  • Humorous and distracts Joe from the execution
  • Feels trapped in the town

Joe

Angela

Ed

Sue

mother like figure

  • caring - gives Joe food

fixes car for Joe in secret

Al Mitchell

Ed's lawyer

volunteers to step in as charity

Frank Pheelin The police officer who was kill.

This is the person who Ed was charged with murder over

Angela

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  • She sacrifices so much for the family.
  • There is no doubt that Angela could do amazing things. She is very talented and hardworking however she works in a bar because she needs to get the money quickly for Ed. She worked extra hours to put money into Ed's account.
  • She also shoveled driveways to pay for Joe's Christmas presents.
  • She is very brave and volunteers to watch the execution. Angela would volunteer to do just about anything for her loved ones.
  • She is pleasant with her mother even if she doesn't deserve it.

'' 'Sure Mom' Angela said. Her tone like sunshine,as though Mom wasn't a complete screw-up ''

Themes

  • This short novel deals with many important topics and themes.

Parental Neglect

Sibling Love

FAMILY

Unfortunately for the Moon children their father passed away when then were very small however Joe explained that he rarely helped out much anyway.

Their mother also did not care for anyone else other that herself.

She argued with Ed and that was part of the reason he decided to run away.

Before Ed was scheduled to be executed his mother called him however she kept the TV on in the background.

It is likely that if the Moon parents were more invested and supportive of their children that the situation would have panned out differently .

In Contrast to their neglectful parents the Moon siblings were extremely close.

Angela sacrificed so much for her brothers and even volunteered to watch Ed's execution.

Ed loved his siblings deeply and said that they would be free after he died. he understood the toll of the situation on Angela and Joe and this is one of the things he felt the most guilty about

.Joe also was tremendously close

with his brother and in the visiting sessions they really bonded about everything and began to catch up on everything they missed out on over the 10 years.

He also chose to sacrifice his future with track and field to travel to Texas to visit his brother

'' It's been years since I've spoken to Mom. I don’t even know what her voice sounds like ''

Ed's family were put in an unusual situation.

Ed had a planned death.

They knew he would die for almost 10 years however there was little they could do about it.

It is different to a terminal illness because of the fact that they were given a date which they could put on their calender.'X marks the spot'

They had to come to terms with the fact that Ed will die. They even had the opportunity to go and say their last words to him.

It is such an odd situation because Ed was completely fit and health

DEATH

The family were counting down the days to the 18th of August hoping that a miracle would happen.

They were counting on the trials that Eds lawyer Al Mitchell was attending to persuade the courts or postpone the date.

Ed described the situation as

'' Lets get the headstone in a Black Friday sale ''

It costs up to 4 million to executed someone however it only costs 12.5% of that to give someone a life sentence

The Death Penalty

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

We have talked about this in Religion class last year but reading about it in a novel put it into a different perspective.

Everyone has different views about capital punishment however personally I believe it to be completely immoral.

This novel highlights just how unfair the justice system is (in America).

At one point in the novel Joe pleads with the prison master to do something about it however he claims he has no power and that he is just doing his job.

''The autopsy won't tell the truth-

which is that my brother was

murdered''

''Ed was charged as an adult 3 years before he was even allowed to buy beer''

‘‘I slide out into the heat of the afternoon hating with every inch of my bones the so-called free country I like in, the home of the brave.’’

The Moon family have unconditional love for eachother.

Joe forgave his Aunt for oppossing his decision to visit Ed when she came to Wakeling too.

The siblings also let go of all of their grudges against eachother.

Nell and Joe also made up and forgave eachotheer for their mistakes.

FORGIVENESS

''WHAT CAN WE FORGIVE?

Anything.

If that's what we choose.''

POVERTY

  • They had always been tight for money from an early age because their Mother spent all of her time drinking and didn't have a job. she also spent the funds they did have on alcohol.
  • They couldn't afford Ed's lawyer for a while.
  • Angela had to work extremely hard for the family.
  • They couldn't really afford to come to Wakeling but they somehow made it happen.
  • The entire family was looked down upon when people heard that Ed was on Death Row.There had been news articles and stories about him and people knew the families faces.
  • Joe experienced this when he was walking down the street one day and he got stopped by an elderly lady walking her poodle who made judgemental remarks about their family.
  • This was one of Aunt Karen's fears. She was ashamed to be associated with Ed and therefore encouraged Angela and Joe to forget him. This is also why she didn't want Joe to visit Ed in prison.
  • The children knew that they would get little help to visit Ed because people disapproved of him

SOCIAL DISAPPROVAL

'' Ask Strangers for handouts?

We could never get away with that-

begging for loans to be with our brother.

See, we aren't the people anyone pities.

No one cares whether or not we get to be

with Ed at the end,

how poor or hungry we are.

The cops widow though?

If she set up a crowd-funding account

to buy a dress you'd have people donating

big time. ''

POSITIVITY

In this very negative situation there were multiple very supportive people who helped

  • Angela searched long and hard for a lawyer and she stumbled upon Al Mitchell. He took on the case for free as a form of charity. He poured everything into the cased and tried every option he could to help Ed.
  • There are also a group people who sing and mourn whoever is being executed outside the prison. They hold candles and help the family through their greif.
  • Sue's son also got killed at the farm and she has been in Wakeling for many years. she cared for Joe in his early weeks in the town

Because,

hell,

you never know

what you might find in the dark.

Thank You for Listening!

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