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    Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy
    Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy
    Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy
    Audiobook3 hours

    Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy

    Written by Jacqueline Woodson

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    laurel would do anything to turn back time—to tell her mother and grandmother not to stay home near the beach with a hurricane coming

    to say no when her boyfriend, T-Boom, the co-captain of the basketball team, offers her that first hit of moon—the drug that makes her feel bigger than all she’s lost

    to have been there for her little brother and her best friend, Kaylee, when they needed her, instead of chasing the moon

    But she can’t.

    All she can do is move forward now. And only she can decide whether to face the pain and joy that is a part of living, or follow the moon to numbness and probably death. Only she can decide to choose to be there for her family and friends—or give them another thing to grieve.

    Kaylee says, “Write an elegy to the past...and move on.” She says it’s all about moving on....

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateFeb 2, 2012
    ISBN9781455854547
    Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy
    Author

    Jacqueline Woodson

    Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, is the author of Feathers, Newbery Honor winner Show Way, Miracle’s Boys (recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize), Locomotion and Hush (both National Book Award finalists), among many others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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    Reviews for Beneath a Meth Moon

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      After losing her mother and grandmother to a flood, Lauren moves with her father and little brother to a small town to start over. Things look good - she's a cheerleader dating a basketball star. Then her boyfriend introduces her to meth.
    • 4/5
      Beneath a Meth Moon was addictive. Once I started reading it, I had a hard time stopping. I would tell myself, "I'll be finished after this chapter" for more than half an hour at a time. For this reason, I finished the book in less than two days.I liked the way the story was told - in vignettes that weren't necessarily in chronological order. It textured the story for me and kept me hooked. I really enjoy books that require (or allow) me to put together a puzzle as I read, and Woodson told her story in that way. There are still some "holes" that were not filled in for me, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I learned what I needed to know about the characters and nothing more. The storytelling was somewhat spare and poetic in that way.I did not really connect with Laurel, though. I thought I would, considering I usually do connect with female protagonists in YA novels. However, I do not think that was a failure on the part of the author; I'm not convinced I was meant to connect with her. The bare-bones storytelling was different from many other YA novels I've read, though it was similar to many prose poetry pieces. I'm wondering if the novel would not have benefited from being told in that style, although it would have to compete with Crank if it were.Speaking of Crank, I wasn't sure if Beneath a Meth Moon would be able to set itself apart from Hopkins' works. I definitely think that it did, which is impressive considering the similarity of the subject matter.I will most assuredly recommend this book to my students without reservation, which is a pretty high compliment. Beneath a Meth Moon was a worthwhile read.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by Cassandra Campbell. In the wake of her mother and grandmother's deaths during Hurricane Katrina, Laurel succumbs to meth addiction--the "moon"--when her new boyfriend introduces her to the drug. Readers seeking a lurid account of drug addiction will be disappointed. This is Jacqueline Woodson after all and so Laurel's story is much more poetic, with an affectionate focus on her relationships such as with her father; her best friend Kaylie; Moses, the mural artist who saves Laurel; and her beloved grandmother M'lady. Campbell effectively voices the wretchedness of Laurel at her lowest, giving the audio version a sense of despair that may not be so vivid in print.
    • 3/5
      Beneath a Meth Moon was a nice, short and fast read. It gave me the perspective of someone, Laurel, who I never would have thought to exist. However, I would say that this book was not for my age group. I would highly recommend the ages 13-15 or middle school students to read. Maybe even entering freshman at high school. It would be very educational, and help prevent people from doing meth.
    • 5/5
      Since I have never taken meth myself, I can't comment on how 'real' or 'authentic' Laurel's story is. But, for someone without that experience, it does feel real. You connect to Laurel. You cheer for you. You cry out for her. You cry with her. This is a truly powerful story, but one that readers should mentally prepare themselves for before picking up this book. This is definitely a book worth reading, but, only if you are ready for it.
    • 4/5


      Simply beautiful! I couldn't put this down. It was on my pile of books to return to the library and I thought I'd read a few pages to see if I should renew it or not. Woodson's words are captivating from the opening page. Needless to say I had to renew it and then I had to come home and finish it! Not only is this a touching, heart-wrenching book of meth addiction, but it is also a story of grief and loss, and the impact of Hurricane Katrina. An awesome, powerful read!
    • 4/5
      Life was normal for 15-year-old Laurel. She loved to write, and had a nice, safe life with her mom, grandma, dad and baby brother. Everything changed when the hurricane took her mom and grandma's life. In her new town, Laurel tried to find herself through cheerleading and her new boyfriend T-Boom. Instead, she lost herself to meth. Meth made her forget the pain of losing her mom and grandma, of losing herself. Meth made her feel alive. Unfortunately, meth was really killing her, slowly, day by day, but Laurel doesn't know how to live without meth. Most people think meth addicts are older, but Woodson shows how meth is willing to be there to grab the life of anyone, regardless of age.
    • 5/5
      This book was absolutely fantastic! I loved it from the beginning to its end. Woodson allowed her readers to see the life of a drug addict from both first person and third person point of view. Her metaphorical writing showed the beauty of meth and how good it makes a feel. Then she shows the ugliness of meth and how damaging it can be to a person's life. Woodson asks her readers this question, "Why do people use drugs?" After reading this novel, I also asked the same question. Is the price of a high worth the cost of life? The message of this novel, "Life is too precious and too short to waste it on a deadly substance."
    • 4/5
      Jaqueline Woodson delivers a real picture of what Meth does to a family in Beneath a Meth Moon. Laurel is a teenage girl who has suffered the loss of losing her mother and grandmother in Hurricane Katrina. Her father tries to put their family back together by moving her and her baby brother for a fresh start. She falls for a handsome boy, T-Boom, who introduces her to the world of Meth. Her world slowly starts to fall apart. Her friendships and family are put on the back burner as the drug takes its toll not only on Laurel, but also on what's left of her family. This book is a real life look at what drugs can do to destroy a family and the struggles that must be overcome in order to put it all back together again.
    • 5/5
      The writing.. It's so tragically beautiful. That's all. There's an airiness to it that makes you feel as if..as if you are beneath a meth moon..
    • 3/5
      Review from library copy

      Very quick read. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that a fourteen year old (or a nine year old mentioned in the book) could be stupid enough to try meth just to impress a boy. I'm really glad that this isn't realistic to me. I'm sure it happens, but I kind of always thought there was usually a pattern of abuse leading up to meth or heroin or things like that. And it's not even that her motivation for doing the drugs initially was the loss of her mom and grandma. It was to impress a basketball player.
    • 3/5
      Very good look at how drugs can mess up your life told in a way that teenagers can relate to. This drug addiction story also went into the "why" someone gets lost in drugs what pain they are trying to escape from. Very quick read and could have been much better had it been a little deeper with more story. Not a prize winner but it's a good book.
    • 3/5
      Stark and spare, this book tells a little piece of Laurel's story and how she started doing meth when she was 15 and what happened next. It's a grim book, well-written but not so depressing one can't stand to read it.
    • 4/5
      A heartbreaking but hopeful story told in exquisite prose.
    • 4/5
      Oh, did this make me cry. Grief is such a powerful thing and Woodson shows how it can change the whole shape of lives. It did seem very much a sketch, but that made sense to me for the conceit of the book - that Laurel is writing an elegy for her dead family members and for the months of her life she's lost, for the relationships she may never be able to fully repair.
    • 5/5
      Laurel has been through a lot in her 15 years. She, her father and her younger brother lost her mother and grandmother when they wouldn't leave Pass Christian when Hurricane Katrina came. They've moved to a small Midwest town after living with her aunt for two years in Jackson.To say she misses her mother and grandmother, M'Lady, is understatement. Their loss is a deep pain that is with her always. It's not enough that she dearly loves her baby brother, who was three months old when they left Pass Christian, and that he deeply loves her. It's not enough that she adores and respects her father, a good, quiet, God-loving man. It's not enough that she has found a good friend, Kaylee, who is the reader to her writer (and Woodson's recounting of their dialogue in this regard is a gorgeous homage to the joys of reading and writing).It's when the cute boy on the basketball team, the one with a tattoo of gumbo, kisses her and offers her meth, that she thinks she has found something that is enough. Meth dulls the pain of loss, makes her giddy and makes her want more. And more. And more.Woodson tells Laurel's story by weaving back and forth in time without preaching, but by showing what Laurel is thinking and feeling throughout her descent into drug addiction and living on the street, through attempts at rehab and believing she can handle it. Laurel is fortunate that even on the street, she meets a wonderful person. Moses is a teenager who is paid by grieving parents to paint portraits of their meth angels, the teens they lost to meth, on buildings.For both Laurel's story and Woodson's strong, lyrical, heart-deep writing, BENEATH A METH MOON is a very good book for teens to discover. The publisher recommends for ages 12 and up; it's going into my middle school library next to Woodson's other books.
    • 1/5
      Mrs. Beamer's Review:This book was really hard for me to read. I don't do well with drug-addicted characters. Perhaps it's just too scary for me to think about. That being said, I thought the book held its own (I guess?) I liked the writing style and would read more books by this author. However, I can't say I enjoyed the book. Within the first sentences, the author lets us know the main character beats her addiction. But even with that silver lining, I couldn't stomach the topic. The pre- post- hurricane storyline was lost on me, as I was fixated by the meth storyline. Honestly, I can't think of what reader group I would suggest this book to...will have to ponder that...Mrs. Beamer’s advisory rating: 0-5 (0=none, 5=lots) click here for more infoLanguage: 2Violence: 0Sexual Content: 1Drugs/Alcohol: 5Potential Controversial Topics: heavy drug use
    • 5/5
      Teaching middle school, I'm always a little edgy about ordering substance abuse related fiction. This one was a stellar purchase, though. Laurel has lost her beloved mother and grandmother who were killed during Hurricane Katrina because her grandmother refused to leave her coastal Mississippi home. Laurel's father moves the family to central Iowa, when they try to pick up the pieces. Starting a new high school is stressful enough, but Laurel seems to find a place with the cheerleading squad, her new friend Kaylee, and her basketball star boyfriend T-Boom. T-Boom introduces her to the moon... crystal meth. He cooks it and sells it out of an abandoned house, and once he gives Laurel a taste of the moon, she's hooked. It's not just the incredible good feeling she got the first time -- when all her sadness seemed to float away and suddenly the world seemed full of possibility. It's the itching, creepy crawling sensations she gets when it wears off... and if she could just have a little more, it would all go away. As her life spirals downward, the cravings for meth replace everything for Laurel, including her father and her four-year-old brother. She is reduced to a homeless beggar, living in the dark unheated back room of an abandoned hardware store in the next town. When she meets Moses, she is at the point where she can't bear to even look at her reflection in windows... she has that filthy, emaciated, malnourished meth user look to her. Moses sees a spark of something in her, though, and as he paints memorials to other young people who died from meth use, he gently encourages Laurel to see that she's not completely lost yet. Powerful writing that shows the curse of this particular drug epidemic realistically, but also hopefully. Absolutely amazing, for 8th grade and up.
    • 3/5
      I think reluctant readers will like the short chapters, although jumping back and forth in time may be a little confusing for them. Sad to see how one tragedy led to another.
    • 5/5
      A first-hand account of a girl's descent into Meth addiction and subsequent homelessness and degradation. Similar to CRANK in its urgency and theme. Not great literature but good at what it does and sure to be popular.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book. It was a quick read, and I loved how the writing style reflects Laurel's state of mind. Laurel's story is told in brief, halting flashes, jumping from past to present. I really felt like it was written in moments between her highs -- small moments of lucidity when she wasn't feeling the effects of meth. And then, there was a dreamy, almost ethereal quality to the language, which made the narrative seem like Laurel was in-between states. Not quite high, not quite grounded in reality. I thought it was perfect for a journal of a girl who is trying to break her addiction and start a new life.The story Laurel tells is heart-breaking, and I love how Woodson is able to bring together recent events to tell a story that some teenagers can really relate to. Beneath a Meth Moon tackles the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina and paints a small picture of the suffering and devastation that followed the event. It also goes into the widespread use of meth among teenagers, and how their lives are ruined by their addiction. And despite these horrific and depressing events, she turns it into a hopeful message. Life goes on. We are able to go on with it by just putting one foot in front of the other and getting through bad times step by step.However, while I appreciated the link between the style and Laurel's frame of mind, I would have liked there to have been more development. In the flashes we get of Laurel's life in a new town, I don't feel as if she has moved on. I don't feel like she has a best friend, or even get the sense of a boyfriend from T-Boom. The way she started meth confused me. T-Boom held out a meth-covered finger to her and told her to sniff. Why did she? Why didn't she just leave the guy? What was going on in her mind while she did this? We don't know. Laurel never tells us. And while theorizing would make for good discussion in a book club or classroom, I would have liked a little more in terms of why and how, besides the fact that she is depressed about the deaths of her mother and grandmother. I didn't need a lot, but something that hints as to why she felt compelled to start meth in the first place.Still, I do think this book has a lot going for it. It's a quick read and can be used in a classroom as a perfect source of metaphor, symbolism, and style. But maybe supplement it with a lesson on the dangers and effects of meth, because while Laurel's life does fall apart, the health consequences are briefly mentioned. And with the dreamy quality of the narrative, I'm not sure the second-hand stories of death have enough of an impact.
    • 4/5
      This is an author who does not disappoint. An award winning Newbery and Coretta Scott King recipient, this latest book packs a wallop.When 15 year old Laurel Daneua moves to a new area with her father and little brother after her mother and grandmother were killed in Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina, despite the incredible grief and heartache,the family valiantly tries to pick up the pieces and start again.Finding a new friend who introduces her to meth quickly equates to a life swirling into a deep, dark tunnel. Even though Laurel has a support base of those who love her, she chooses the drug to mask the pain of loss.Woodson powerfully portrays the gritty down fall and harsh reality of the frightening power of meth.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      After losing her mother and grandmother to a flood, Lauren moves with her father and little brother to a small town to start over. Things look good - she's a cheerleader dating a basketball star. Then her boyfriend introduces her to meth.
    • 4/5
      Although i've never had problems with addiction, I have known people that have struggled with these issues, and the mind of an addict is something that truely intrigues me. This story focuses on the demise of Laurel, who after losing her monther and grandmother during Hurricane Katrina, moves to a new town, and meets T-Boom the star basketball player who has eyes for only Laurel, but also has eyes for the moon, aka meth. Laurel gets caught up in the moon and quickly falls subject to a serious addiction. Her life spirals out of control and Jacqueline Woodson really puts you inside of an addicts head with her writing. This book is extremely fast-paced and intense, which I liked, but I felt like I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, they felt fleeting and I felt like I couldn't really grasp who they were. If you like books that deal with addiction, then I feel like you'd enjoy this book, I just felt that it was too short for me to really connect with the characters enough to feel their emotions in a way that made it really hit home for me, but still feel like it's worth reading.
    • 2/5
      This book was not what I was hoping for, to say the least. I understood where the writer was coming from in terms of the writing style, but I found it confusing and not as powerful as possible with such a huge subject. In essence, the novel is the story of Laurel had become addicted to Meth. This is a huge topic and very important, yet the impact of it on Laurel's life is not portrayed in a way that made me care. The story is told from Laurel's point of view; memories are told in fragments (since she doesn't remember it all). I guess that makes sense to the story, but it makes the plot hard for the reader to figure out. Also, I don't know if it is different in the finished copy, but the ARC's have no quotation marks! Everything is in italics so it is hard to differentiate conversations from inner thoughts. This was a quick read (quick meaning short, not consuming). I read it almost straight through, but I did not get the same feelings that books like Speak, Don't Breathe a Word or Want To Go Private? left me with. I wish I could sit this book next to those I mentioned, I wish that it portrayed the subject powerfully.... it just didn't. Disappointed.
    • 3/5
      decent book to read short but good
    • 4/5
      When a devastating hurricane rips through her small Mississippi town, Laurel's mother and grandmother stay behind to ride out the storm and end up dead. Laurel, her father and brother move to Iowa to start over, and things begin to look up for her. She makes the cheerleading squad and begins to date T-Boom, one of her school's star basketball players. Even though things are looking up for Laurel, she can't get over the loss of her family members, so when T-Boom offers her some moon (meth), she revels in the way it makes her pain disappear. Soon, Laurel finds herself living on the streets, addicted to meth, still unable to cope with her loss. When she meets Moses, a gay street artists who paints pictures of the souls lost to meth, she connects with him. Moses has suffered a personal loss of his own and just may be the person who can help Laurel find her way back to the life she once had.I've read several novels lately about meth addiction, some more powerful than others, and I must say that Ms. Woodson's story is very compelling. Luckily, I've never suffered from a drug addiction or known anyone who has, but I can imagine it's a devastating ordeal, and Ms. Woodson definitely captures Laurel's loss and her descent from cheerleader to junkie very well. The writing is elegant and poetic, and flows nicely, though at times I struggled to keep my bearings straight as the story flips between past and present quite quickly. The characters are all compelling and well-drawn, and I was particularly drawn to the character of Moses. This is a quick read at just under 200 pages, but one definitely worth checking out.(Review based on an Advanced Reader's Copy courtesy of the publisher via Library Things Earlier Reviewers program)
    • 5/5
      I have to say that this book was fantastic. Woodson was poetic as always, and yet she pulled no punches in writing about the effects of meth. The juxtaposition of such beautiful writing about something so ugly was amazing. I particularly liked the back story for the protagonist, the idea that the tragedy she faced with hurricane Katrina was what threw her life into the whirlwind that made her susceptible to meth. The destruction of her family and her younger brother's unfailing love were particularly touching. My eighth grade students are eating this book up and hopefully, in the process, learning about the dangers of drugs.
    • 4/5
      As both a Katrina survivor and a recovering addict, I was very excited to receive this book to review. Then I sat it on my shelf for a month, scared to read it.In some ways, Woodson is dead on, particularly with the descriptions of Laurel's panic attacks when it rains (or she is otherwise reminded of the storm.) Quite a lot of the behavior of the addicts and other teenagers in the story is similarly believable.What I had most trouble with is, in all the many, many addicts I've known, I've never known one to end up homeless quite so quickly. Particularly after she ends up in rehab the first time- they would have tried to set her up with a plan, and if her dad felt he couldn't take her back, she would have ended up in DHS (foster care.)Also? Moon doesn't refer to the drug, but the amount (one ounce.) I know it worked nicely for the symbolism and all that, but it's not actually used that way.All in all, most YA collections would be well served by this addition. Its short length and scintillating topic will draw in reluctant readers, it will appeal to fans of her other works, and the lyrical prose will grab the more sophisticated reader. Also, I highly doubt most teenagers will have the problems with it that I did.
    • 4/5
      Like Ellen Hopkins’ writing, this book brings the harsh realities of addiction to teens. Laurel is fifteen and has lost her mother and grandmother to flooding caused by a severe hurricane in the Mississippi/New Orleans area. Overwhelmed with loss, Laurel fills the void with a new boyfriend – the football player T-Bone. He immediately introduces her to meth – or “moon” as he calls it. What begins as a quick high, quickly becomes a serious addiction. Soon Laurel forsakes her family and friends to live on the streets and beg for money to buy “moon”. Woodson gives her story a gritty reality of the allure of the drug. The change from cute cheerleader to an ugly addict is swift and stunning. Moses, a gay Black artist, reaches out to help Laurel. He is a painter of souls lost to meth and has suffered from a personal loss of his own. Woodson is spare with connecting plot, quickly transitioning from current situations to past memories. While it takes a moment to get one’s bearing, the background story adds to the character development. Despite the lack of subplot, the story of addiction moves quickly with its single focus on the pathetic life of a junkie.