July 2016 New Gen Book of the Month.
In a Nutshell: Awesome Empowerment * Sisterly Support * Pursuing Passions
This inspirational story about following dreams and the power of female friendship is as rich, warm and cheering as being curled up with a mug of hot chocolate on a bitterly cold day.
Amber lives near London’s cosmopolitan Brick Lane with her gay dads. She loves words, Oscar Wilde and all things vintage. She hates the small-minded bullying “OMG girls” at school, and feels certain that “there must be other people like her out there somewhere. Other people who didn't fit it, or want to fit in.” And so, inspired by an Oscar Wilde quote, Amber seeks out sister Moonlight Dreamers, kindred sprits who also “dream of freedom and adventure”.
The girls who respond to Amber’s call come from very different worlds, but they come together in a spirit of solidarity to create their own secret society in which difference is celebrated, and following your dreams is de rigeur. At the inaugural meeting of the Moonlight Dreamers, they each declare their dreams and pledge to pursue them. Amber is desperate to visit Oscar Wilde's grave in Paris. Shy photographer Maali yearns for the confidence to talk to boys. Poet Sky dreams of performing at a poetry slam, and New Yorker Rose wants to own a Harley Davidson and become a patissier, against her model mom’s desire for Rose to follow in her expensively-shoed footsteps.
Utterly charming through even the girls’ most challenging moments, the author’s portrayal of female friendship and self-empowerment is sublimely enriching, and the novel ends with a glorious sense that the girls' journey is only just beginning: a lifetime of fortifying friendship and Moonlight Dreaming awaits.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
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