Turtle Moon, by Alice Hoffman

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Welcome to Verity, Florida, where the month of May is a dangerous time: long-time residents know better than to make any life-altering decisions during May, as everyone seems to "go a little crazy."

It is where Lucy Rosen and her son Keith have landed after leaving New York in Alice Hoffman's wonderful book, Turtle Moon.

While Lucy has come to Verity to escape an unhappy marriage, 12-year-old Keith is miserable in Florida, and gets into non-stop trouble - stealing, skipping school, and more - with a new friend.

One night, a single mother in the Rosen's apartment complex is murdered and her baby disappears. The "meanest boy" in town finds the baby in the complex's laundry room, realizes that no one is coming for her, and takes off with the baby, becoming her protector.

Julian Cash is the police officer assigned to solving the murder and finding the baby. He, too, was once considered the "meanest boy" in Verity, and can relate to Keith when he (Cash) finds the boy.

What transpires in Turtle Moon is a fast-paced story of complex people trying to find what will give their lives direction, while learning how to trust, as well as growing and letting go.

If you're looking for your next satisfying fast read, Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman is sure to please.

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At Risk, by Alice Hoffman

At Risk by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever gone back to reread a book that you were first introduced to, and found that it still holds up? Then you'll know how I felt upon rereading At Risk, by Alice Hoffman.

Written during the 1980s, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, the book follows Amanda Farrell, an 11-year-old gymnast who dreams of being a pupil of Bela Karolyi. Her parents, Ivan, a scientist, and Polly, a photographer, take Amanda to her meets, bringing along her eight-year-old brother Charlie, whose fascination with dinosaurs (and science, in general) rivals Amanda's love of gymnastics.

The book opens with Polly getting ready to bring the children to one of Amanda's meets, as Ivan heads for work. Amanda has been fighting what her parents thought was a summer cold that lasted a little too long. It is after the meet when Polly goes to find Amanda that she and Ivan realize that it might be more than just a cold. In fact, it turns out to be AIDS, picked up from a blood transfusion during an appendectomy, several years earlier.

The book follows the family's first few months of Amanda's illness, and the small New England town's dealings with the family.

While science has advanced to where people living with HIV/AIDS are able to live a longer, more productive life, the book shows how the disease affected patients during the 1980s, letting the reader see that no one "deserves" the disease.

For anyone who has never read the book, or hasn't read it in years, Alice Hoffman's At Risk is well worth the read.

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