Once in a Blue Moon - Softcover

Flake, Sharon G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593481011 ISBN 13: 9780593481011

Verlag: Random House Children's Books, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

A beautiful and uplifting novel in verse about family, friendship, journeys that take us far from home and back again, renewed and more courageous from the three-time Coretta Scott King Honor winner of The Skin I'm In!

James Henry used to be brave. He hasn't been the same since that fateful night at the lighthouse when his ma went searching for Dog. Now months later, he feels as small as the space between the numbers on a watch, nervous day and night, barely able to go outside. Even words have a hard time leaving his mouth. The only person he speaks to is Hattie, his courageous twin sister, who fiercely protects him, especially from bullies.

James Henry wants nothing more than to be brave again. However, finding his voice will mean confronting the truth about what happened at the lighthouse-a step James Henry isn't sure he can take. Until a blue moon is forecast, and as Gran has said, everything is possible under a rare blue moon . . .

* "An evocative, immediate novel with compelling characters and a wonderfully well-paced plot." —The Horn Book, starred review

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sharon G. Flake is the author of The Skin I’m In, which has sold over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into numerous languages. Since its publication, Flake has authored over a dozen books, winning multiple Coretta Scott King Honor Awards; ALA Notable and Top Ten Recommended Books citations, and an NAACP Image Award Nomination, among many accolades. She has been writing books from her home (and Panera’s) for over twenty years.

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Me

People ask about the boy
behind the door
inside the house
me.
Mostly Sister gets the questions.
She chases away boys
girls too sometimes
who wander onto our property
to gawk and stare at me
the one
folks hardly see
but everybody knows about.


Me and Sister

Hattie and me are twins
not that we match exactly.

She’s two inches taller
I’m two minutes older
a boy.
Eleven
though I seem younger.
Maybe that’s why Hattie likes to boss me around.
But I’m the captain
today anyhow.
Which means
she’s got to follow my rules.


My Condition

Sometimes
I feel as small as a flea
as little as the space between
the numbers on a watch.

It makes living hard
staying inside easier than leaving the house.

Right now
I’m on my knees
on the couch
by the window
staring out—­like usual.

Hattie’s
to the right of the porch
next to the gravel walkway
in front of the bushes Gran asked her to trim
yesterday.

It’s a boy’s job
my job
but given my condition
Hattie gets to take my place
more than I’d like
not that I like
toting pails
feeding chickens
milking.


The Way Things Are

We live in Seed County, North Carolina.
Daddy is in Detroit
working.
Here, it’s me
Gran
and Hattie in the house.
Uncle comes by now and again.

He don’t like me much.


Hattie’s Way

How many times you got to call
a girl before she answers?

One time?
Two times?
Ten?

“Hattie Mae!” I say again.

Outside past the porch
she squats low
picks up a rope
that came from Detroit
wrapped around a box of new dresses
sent to her by Daddy.

She holds both ends
swings
that rope
over her head
jumps
HIGH
sends dirt flying.

Still
she ignores me.

Could be she’s mad at me.
This is the third time this week I said
I’d go outside
try to anyhow.

Only I can’t.


Sister’s Song

Sister is dressed for Sunday
when it’s only Wednesday.
She sings while she jumps
hops
skips.
“Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack . . .”

But as soon as her song starts
it stops.

“Everybody’s got a condition,” she says.
“Pastor wheezes when he preaches.
Sneezes come spring.
Still
he gets out the house.”

I get out
at night, at least.
If folks looked up, there I’d be
on the roof
under the sky
talking to Hattie
the only one allowed up there
besides me.

My rules
even when I’m not the captain.


Lighthouses and Blue Moons

Sister takes her sweet time walking
up the pine front-­porch steps
sawed and nailed in place by Granddad, who built the house.

Halfway between the porch and me
she stops
gives Gran a hug
reminds her that there’ll be
a blue moon in a few months’ time.

Who don’t know that?

The almanac calls
the second full moon in a month
a blue moon.
It don’t happen too often.
Which makes it a big deal
important
unusual.

Gran calls it a wishing moon.
What you want for, wish for
or need
on that day is yours
according to her.

Which is why Hattie is nagging me so.
If I’m to be rid of my condition
she believes
we need to get to the ocean
on the night of the blue moon
get to the lighthouse too
where I was when everything changed.

Which means
I have to get out of this house first.

Only I can’t.
Why don’t folks understand that?

Ma would.


Hattie in the House

Hattie comes inside
when I say I don’t feel so well.

Sister swears it’s nothing.
Just me worrying
or about to.
Still
she puts her hand on my forehead.

Feels like something.

Needles poke my legs.
Fire burns my toes and fingernails.
My insides
hum
like guitar strings just plucked.

It’s my nerves
playing tricks on me
Doc Edwards claimed
during his once-­a-­month visit.

Feels like something worse.

“Hattie,” Gran says from where she sits rocking
on the porch,
“leave him be.”

Hattie stands behind me.
Hugs me.
Brings up Doc Edwards.

I shiver
get cold to the bone.

My worrying is a worry to my soul
brain
blood and everything that makes
me
me
Doc Edwards said before he left town for good.

“Get him outside in the sun.
Drag him if you must,” he told Daddy
not long after the accident
plus a few more times besides.

Daddy never did. Never would.
He understands me good as Ma.


Ma’s Twin

Uncle said
it was a fool’s errand
that sent me to the ocean that night
with Ma chasing after me.


More About Uncle

Uncle
never did trust up-­north
big-­city
fast-­talking
pointy-­toed-­shoe-­wearing folk
 Negro or white
not even Daddy at first.

Till Ma introduced him to Daddy’s cousin Sarah.
She’s our cousin and our aunt now.
They married ten years ago.
Got no kids
just each other plus a big white house.

Uncle came back south when Gran got sick.
Ma followed.
For just a spell they both said.
Then he got a job with the railroad.
Ma started teaching.

Six-­two
pecan brown
Uncle dresses in clothes plain as paper bags.
Brown
brown
always brown.
His car is fancy, though.
His house has three floors. He built it himself.
Some nights I stayed with them. He liked me then.


Ma

If it wasn’t for Ma
I would believe what people say about me
that I’m peculiar
 odd
a coward.

That night
Ma called me brave
 strong
her little man
the smartest boy in Seed County.
I never told anybody that.


Rooftop

On my back
on top the roof
laying on a blanket
with my toes aimed at the sky
I forget my troubles.

The moon lights up the night.
Lights me up inside
fills me up
calms me down.
Hattie too.

Sister is nearby with her birds.

Standing in front of cages
stacked wide and high
Hattie looks after her treasures
doves
that think they’re hawks.
Twelve in all.

Only Nutcracker is free right now.


Above My Head

Nutcracker flaps his wings
heads for his favorite spot
a chicken-­wire fence Daddy put around the roof
so we don’t fall off.

Hattie sets another dove free
then another
till
there’s ten of us on the roof
one complaining—­
me.

The others coo
peck at seeds
corn kernels
dry peas
that Hattie scatters
in the cages
on the roof
and me.

I close my eyes again
think about Buck Rogers
who is nothing like me.
Full-­grown
white
he lives in the twenty-­fifth century
five hundred years in the future.

Ray guns.
Starships.
High-­frequency impulses.

I never heard of such things
before his radio show.

Uncle doesn’t like it one bit.
Says Buck and me
do the devil’s work
by meditating on places
God never wanted folk to go
Venus
...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Random House Children's Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593481011
• ISBN 13: 9780593481011
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 336
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland