What the Moon Said

What the Moon Said is the story of 10 year-old Esther and her family and how their love makes good times better and bad times bearable during the Great Depression.

Their move from the big city of Chicago to a small ramshackle farm in Wisconsin is full of changes for Esther. Some of them are good, like being able to have a dog at last. But some of them are bad, like having to use an outhouse because there is no indoor plumbing!

Join Esther on her "great adventure" and find out if she ever earns the hug she yearns for from her mother. Find out what Esther discovers about luck—good and bad—and about the superstitions so important to her mother. Find out what the moon said.

Activities & Curriculum Ideas

Awards for "What the Moon Said"

Junior Library Guild Selection
Illinois Reads Book, 2015 grades 3-5
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices Title

Here's what readers are saying:

Publishers Weekly:

"A ring around the moon, a dream about a wedding, and rain at the outset of a journey are all causes for alarm in the mind of Esther Vogel's Russian immigrant mother. Her superstitions, combined with a lack of physical affection, make (nearly) ten-year-old Esther wonder if Ma loves her. In 1930, Esther's life changes dramatically when her family moves from Chicago to a Wisconsin farm after her father loses his job. The house is dilapidated, with no electricity and an outhouse instead of a bathroom. Optimistically determined to see the situation as an "adventure," Esther is thrilled to have horses, cows, and (best of all) a dog, and she finds beauty in the quiet landscape and excels in school. Yet what she really wants—approval, a steady best friend, and relief from poverty—are elusive. Rosengren, in her first novel, offers an intimate account of a family's adjustments to country life and the hardships of the Great Depression. It's easy to root for Esther, who makes the most of each day, wants little and gives much." Ages 8-12.

Kirkus:

"A coming-of-age tale gets to the heart of family dynamics in the face of drastic life changes in the earliest days of the Depression. A quiet, old-fashioned story. Sensitive and tender." (Fiction. 8-12)

Booklist:

Debut author Rosengren weaves plenty of Old World superstitions into her heartwarming story, contrasting those who fear the future with those who embrace it. Esther's positive attitude offers a fine model for readers of this engaging historical fiction." —Kathleen Isaacs.