A Nearer Moon

Crowder (Audacity) blends gorgeously poetic language with precisely observed detail in this delicate fantasy of sisterly love tested by separation and illness. Luna and her younger sister, Willow, live in a swamp caused by the mysterious damming, nearly a generation ago, of the river that used to flow through their village. The swamp water is supposedly cursed, and even one sip causes a wasting sick- ness that inevitably kills in three weeks. After Willow becomes ill, Luna’s desperation causes her to seek high and low for a solution. Meanwhile, the water sprite sisters Perdita and Pelagia prepare to leave the entire world they live in, because sprites can no longer share a world with humans. The fates of the two sets of sisters are more closely entwined than any of them would expect. Crowder’s vividly observed setting, centered on a rooted and loving village community and that community’s interdependence with the land and water, helps this simple-seeming story gain remarkable complexity and emotional resonance. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (Sept.)