Walk Two Moons
Walk Two Moons is a novel written by Sharon Creech, published by HarperCollins in 1994 and winner of the 1995 Newbery Medal. The novel was originally intended as a follow-up to Creech's previous novel "Absolutely Normal Chaos"; but, the idea was changed after she began writing it. Plot. The novel is narrated by a 13-year-old girl named Salamanca (Sal). Sal's mother has recently left Sal's father, and Sal's grandparents are taking her on a cross-country road trip to Lewiston, Idaho to see her mother. Sal loves nature and was  very close to her mother before she left. On the trip, Sal entertains her grandparents by telling a story about her friend in Euclid, Ohio, Phoebe Winterbottom, whose mother suddenly disappeared and left their family too, and about Ben Finney, with whom Sal wants to begin a romantic relationship. Throughout the book, as Sal's story unfolds and their car travels west, she reveals more details about Phoebe, and why her story reminds Salamanca of her own. The more she tells her grandparents of Phoebe's story, the more she feels like her story is less connected to Phoebe's  story. When Sal reaches the Missouri river her grandmother or Gram is bitten by a snake. Sal reaches Coeur D'Alene and Gram suffers a stroke and has to stay in a hospital. Gramps wanted to stay with Gram, but he wanted Salamanca to reach her mother in Lewiston so he gives her his car to drive. Sal reaches Lewiston but then the readers find out that Salamanca's mother had died in a bus crash while coming here and Salamanca knew that. Themes. The major themes in the story include the development of new relationships, dealing with grief, love, death , cultural identity, women's roles as mothers and wives, the hardships of life, and the adventures of misunderstandings and coming to terms with reality. Creech drew on her background for many of the book's themes and images, including Sal's love of nature, her relationship with her mother, and the road trip to Idaho that frames the narrative. In an interview, Creech said that she found the aphorism that gives the book its title ("Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins") in a fortune cookie. Awards. In 1995, "Walk Two Moons" won  the Newbery Medal, the United Kingdom Reading Association Award, and the United Kingdom's Children's Book Award. In 1996, it received the WH Smith Mind-Boggling Book Award. In 1997, it also won the Literaturhaus Award, Austria, and the Young Adult Sequoyah Award.