By Maureen Tai, 18 June 2023

“Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.”

Salamanca Tree Hiddle – or “Sal” for short – was named after her Native American mother’s favourite sugar maple tree. Problem is, Sal’s mother has gone away, and Sal’s father has uprooted them from their beloved home in Bybanks, Kentucky, to Euclid, Ohio, some 300 miles away. Is her father in love with Margaret Cadaver, the lady he moved them to be closer to? Is Sal’s new friend, the intriguing drama queen, Phoebe Winterbottom, correct in her guess that Mrs Cadaver offed her own husband and buried his chopped up bits in her garden? Why did Sal’s mother leave if she loved Sal, if she loved Sal’s father? All these questions, and more, are raised and answered as Sal and her maternal grandparents embark on a road trip from Ohio to Idaho. Following her mother’s postcard trail, Sal tells stories – both true and imagined – along the way. In Walk Two Moons, Creech skilfully weaves together the past and the present, and Sal’s inner and outer voices, into a compelling, at times laugh-out-loud funny, yet poignant middle-grade story about loss, grief and the courage it takes to overcome them both. For ages 11+.