
By Shana Burg
A girl faces loss and finds hope in the African jungle.
Thirteen-year-old Clare is trapped in the African jungle, grappling with her mother's death and her father's distant healing touch. At Mzanga School, she struggles with language and culture until an outing turns tragic. Only Memory, an orphan who understands love and loss, can guide Clare to find laughter amidst heartbreak. Will Clare learn to embrace life and cherish memories in this foreign land?
Laugh with the Moon is on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. Thirteen-year-old Clare Silver is stuck. Stuck in denial about her mother’s recent death. Stuck in the African jungle for sixty-four days without phone reception. Stuck with her father, a doctor who seems able to heal everyone but Clare.Clare feels like a fish out of water at Mzanga Full Primary School, where she must learn a new language. Soon, though, she becomes immersed in her new surroundings and impressed with her fellow students, who are crowded into a tiny space, working on the floor among roosters and centipedes. When Clare’s new friends take her on an outing to see the country, the trip goes horribly wrong, and Clare must face another heartbreak head-on. Only an orphan named Memory, who knows about love and loss, can teach Clare how to laugh with the moon. Told from an American girl’s perspective, this story about how death teaches us to live and how love endures through our memories will capture the hearts of readers everywhere.
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