Moonboy

Moonboy by Anna Ciddor (Allen & Unwin) PB RRP $17.99 ISBN: 9781761180743

Reviewed by Kellie Nissen

Ten-year-old Letty misses her grandfather. Not that he’s passed – but he lives in a nursing home now and doesn’t remember who she is. Usually, when her parents visit Grampa, they let her stay in the car, but Nan doesn’t. Nan insists that Letty come inside with her, and now Letty is staying with Nan while her parents are away, so she must see Grampa every day.

Letty’s dad is no help when she speaks to him. Instead, he tells her about the box of Grampa’s treasures at the back of the cupboard in his old room in Nan’s house, and suggests she look for it and maybe take something in to the home to see if she can jog Grampa’s memory. This is the room Letty is staying in – it was her dad’s room before that, and Grampa’s room originally – and when she checks the cupboard, the box is still there. It’s full of newspaper clippings about the first moon landing – and a threadbare St Kilda footy jumper.

When she decides to put the jumper on – it might help Grampa remember something – Letty finds herself in a strange, yet familiar room, standing behind a boy who is kneeling on the floor cutting out newspaper clippings. As they question each other, it turns out that the mysterious boy has the same name as Grampa – Keith. “But everyone calls me Moonboy,” he tells her.

In her desperate desire to see the Grampa she once knew and loved, Letty – who now wants everyone to call her by her real name, Charlotte – unwittingly sets out on a dangerous mission to change the course of history, or at least her Grampa’s history.

A good timeslip novel is a challenge to write – particularly for a midgrade audience – but Anna Ciddor has done a brilliant job, taking Letty back to 1969 at the time of the moon landing, a topic that is of interest to many readers. Letty and Keith’s confusion about vocabulary changes and technology advances is presented in humorous dialogue and the changes Letty manages to put into effect are believable.

Moonboy is funny, poignant, moving and devastating all at the same time. It introduces readers to life in the late 1960s and interesting facts about space travel. And it explores aging as well as relationships – between family members and friends – in a relatable and meaningful way that will resonate with readers aged 8 to 12.

A beautiful and heartwarming story that I read from start to finish in one sitting – a rare occurrence these days.