Once in a Blue Moon is a sad, sweet, middle grade novel written in verse. This is a relatively short book — almost a novelette or a lengthy short story; it covers only a few days in the characters’ lives. There is an element of mystery because the main character, James Henry, is traumatized to the point that he is not functioning, but the reader only learns through partial references and then finally at the end, what happened and why James Henry has been struggling. Because of the writing style and genre, this might not be a book a middle grader would pick up on their own; however, in a classroom setting this would be a good discussion book around a variety of themes.

Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy provided by the Publisher

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: None

Violence/Gore: Child shoves an adult; adult elbows and shoves past other adults; mention of a deer hit by a car and the part of it are still on the road; group of children pick on another group of children by throwing apples at them; character has her pets attack some other characters (mild injuries), pet is injured/dies; children pursued by men with rifles; character steps in a rabbit trap and severely injures foot, which is briefly described; report of the death of an animal; character tells another about events in the past that resulted in injury/harm.

Sex/Nudity: None

Mature Subject Matter:

Anxiety, traumatic events, bullying, racial prejudice.

Alcohol/Drug Use:

None