Frances O’Roark Dowell makes books very intimate, and Shooting the Moon is no exception.  Perhaps this one resonates particularly well because is drawn from the author’s childhood as an “army brat”. Jamie Dexter and her older brother TJ have been raised to worship Army all the way.  Hooah, yes sir!  So it is a huge surprise to both of them that their father, the Colonel, is unhappy when TJ enlists right out of high school .  But TJ is determined and is sent almost immediately to Vietnam.  The letters he begins sending to Jamie from Vietnam aren’t letters at all, but undeveloped rolls of film. 

Jamie develops sweet relationships with a couple of the young soldiers at the Fort Hood rec center; Private Hollister plays gin rummy with her and Sgt. Byrd teaches Jamie to develop her brother’s film.  Jamie confesses, “I was six months away from turning thirteen and I thought I knew everything.”  But the film helps Jamie see that the realities of war in Vietnam aren’t anything like the games they played at home.  The book has an abrupt ending, but the sufficient closure will satisfy most readers.

Woven throughout the narrative is a lot of Vietnam War slang, but the book is not overly graphic or particularly political.  I thought the book gently bittersweet.  My aide at the library, however, cried most of the way through the book.  Her cousin Butch died in Vietnam.  Dowell’s books do that to people. 

Earlier this year when I first booktalked Dowell’s novel, Chicken Boy, I thought it was an average story.  But as I described many of the difficult family situations the main character encounters in that book, one young teen nodded sagely.  “I’ll read that one,” she said quietly.  I knew enough about the young woman’s sad homelife to know Chicken Boy was resonating with her personally.  Once again, a Frances O’Roark Dowell book made a powerful connection with a reader.

Shooting the Moon should connect especially well with readers who have loved ones in the armed forces today.  The book’s narrative is nonlinear, however, making this book a more challenging read.  I recommend it for strong readers grades 4 and up.