Moonwalking, written by Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller-Lachmann. Farrar Straus Giroux, Macmillan. 2022. $22.99 ages 10 and up

"EXTRA CREDIT

even countries
have fathers
so why not
me?

why don't 
we study the 
nation's founding 
mothers?

they're the 
ones who hold
life inside

and make 
the world in 
the womb

plus

mothers are 
the ones 
who stay "

Pie and JJ are boys growing up in the early 1980s. Their stories are shared with honesty in this plucky, powerful verse novel.

Pie's home life is not easy. He and his little sister are in the care of their mother, who suffers with mental illness. Pie has never met his father. His sister Pilar's father Tony is out of the house due to domestic abuse toward their mother. The uncertainty that comes from not being able to count on their mother creates numerous issues for the children. A gifted student and an aspiring graffiti artist, Pie wants to know more about art and is encouraged by his teacher to attend an after-school art program being given at a local museum. 

JJ struggles in school, but finds solace in his music. He spends time learning to play guitar and write punk rock songs. His father is a Polish immigrant who has no work. He, too, is abusive. His treatment of his son makes JJ's life difficult and heartbreaking. 

As luck would have it, the two become friends. Their lives are not simple. Politics and racism are huge issues, felt by so many. Pie knows that his skin color affects how he is seen, and how his love of graffiti as his medium is not readily acceptable. JJ is quiet and one of the only white kids at their school. His father, a union supporter, deals with a different kind of discrimination, as does his sister. As Pie sees life through art, JJ sees it in music. Their friendship is not an easy one, but it grows into something special. An encounter with police shows just how hard it will be to maintain it.  

Two brilliant writers, in alternating voices, create a story of a precarious friendship that will speak to many middle graders. It requires careful thought and attention. The essence of the issues explored are not much different today than they were 40 years ago. Painful, but heartfelt, it will find many fans. Deservedly so!