LitPick Review
Northward to the Moon is yet another book by Polly Horvath following the adventures of a young girl named Jane. Jane's family has fallen apart and is in the process of being put together again due to her mother's previous marriage and her new marriage, Ned. But let's start at the beginning, where Ned, Jane, Jane's Mom, Maya (her sister), Max (her brother) and Hershel (her other brother) have moved to Canada. They moved to Canada to get a fresh start, with Ned as a French teacher. But there is a slight problem. Ned doesn't speak French. So when Ned gets fired from his job, they move back to the United States of America. Here, they discover a mysterious bag of money, supposedly left by Ned's brother for them. Ned has no intention of keeping it, and they go on an adventure, pretending to be bandits (and actually facing problems) along the way. Their journey to return a duffel bag full of cash leads them to a Canadian indigenous village, to which Ned's family has ties. It then takes them to the old west, where they meet up with Ned's mother, which then sparks a chain of events which includes things from fox attacks on Ned's sisters, from nursing homes to runaway little girls, and much more exciting adventures. And maybe, just maybe, they will find the bag's rightful owner, and return. Maybe being the key word.
Opinion:
This book was strong in many subjects, such as the character development and writing style, yet weak in a few as well, such as the plot. I feel that the character development was very strong, and the author, Polly Horvath, did a very good job of making most of the characters unpredictable. But sometimes, I felt that the plot lacked what the characters gained. The plot was very predictable, in the sense that the adventure seemed to follow any typical adventure, and I expected to happen what would happen. But on the contrary, the writing style was enjoyable, for the sentences were not boring, and the words were challenging yet easy at some points. So overall, I would definitely recommend this book to another person of my age or within a scale of one to two years.
