Maggot Moon Author: Visit Amazon's Sally Gardner Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0763665533 | Format: PDF
Maggot Moon Description
From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-In a grimly surreal alternate 1950s, 15-year-old Standish Treadwell leads a bleak life under a totalitarian government reminiscent of World War II Germany and Cold War Soviet Union. Struggling with an unspecified learning disability, he doesn't fit in-he dreams of a land of Croca-Colas and plans an imaginary mission to planet Juniper with his best friend, Hector-until Hector and his family are abruptly taken away because they know too much about the government's machinations. Standish's quirky first-person voice and fragmented storytelling gradually reveal that the government is intent on winning a propaganda-filled space race and will go to any length, including a massive hoax, to appear victorious. The story borders on allegory, and the setting is deliberately vague. It is implied that the details that led to this dystopian society are not important; the crucial point is that Standish becomes determined that he, an individual, can take action against a cruel and powerful regime. With brief chapters and short sentences, the prose appears deceptively simple, but the challenging subject matter makes for a highly cerebral reading experience. Stomach-churning illustrations of flies, rats, and maggots accompany the text, creating a parallel graphical narrative that emphasizes key moments in the plot. Though its harsh setting and brutal violence may not appeal to those seeking a happy ending, the story's Orwellian overtones will fuel much speculation and discussion among readers.-Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The year is 1956. In an unnamed country of obvious allegorical weight, the totalitarian government of “the Motherland” keeps the “impure” in ghettos where they live off scraps and hope not to be dragged away to camps. Standish, 15, lives in Zone 7, a nasty place from which school is no respite—there cruel teachers beat students and, on this particular day, kill one. Standish is expelled in the aftermath, and the next step for him may be the camps. Standish, however, knows a secret. The Motherland is hyping a moon landing that will prove to the world that they reign supreme with interstellar weaponry. But it’s a fake: just across the park, accessible via a hidden tunnel, is a building that houses an artificial moon set. And one of the so-called astronauts has shown up in Standish’s cellar missing his tongue. Gardner snatches elements from across history to create something uniquely her own: a bleak, violent landscape of oppression, as well as the seeds of hope that sprout there, revealed in Standish’s tenacious, idiosyncratic voice over 100 short chapters. Crouch’s frequent sketches of flies, rats, and maggots seem unrelated at first, but they emerge as further metaphor for the taking. This is alt-history second; first, it is an eerie, commanding drama. Grades 7-12. --Daniel Kraus
See all Editorial Reviews
- Age Range: 12 and up
- Grade Level: 7 and up
- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Candlewick (February 12, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0763665533
- ISBN-13: 978-0763665531
- Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
3.5 Stars
Sometimes a story has more layers than an onion, with more and more meaning to peel away and peel away. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner is just such a story. But you might not like what you find under each layer.
Standish Treadwell isn't bright. At least, it is safer for Standish if you think that. In the alternative Britain he lives in, there isn't much of anything that could be considered "bright". No color, no fun, no happiness. But for a boy who can't read and write, this cruel world is particularly cruel. That is, until Hector comes along. As the only boy Standish has every called a friend, Hector is the most important person in his life besides Standish's grandfather.
The world doesn't take kindly to friends. With the Greenflies buzzing around and teachers who are willing to beat a little boy to death for laughing, the world is a cold hard place. But when Hector disappears, Standish refuses to stand by and let it happen. He watched his own parents disappear after his mother was taken and returned disfigured, and he isn't going to let the same thing happen to Hector. Standish is the only one who can help. He is the only one who can help because he is the one who is underestimated the most.
Have you read Animal Farm? If you have, you know there are two (or more) layers to that story. You have the weird story about the talking animals taking over the farm, and then you have the deeper allegory into the world's political figures. Maggot Moon is the same kind of story. Honestly? This is NOT a book for young kids or even most young adults. It is deep, complex, violent, bizarre, confusing, and I am not even sure I really liked it, but it had my mind spinning all day.
In the Motherland being different is frowned upon. If your different, there is probably a reason and that reason is your no good. Standish is different and until he got a friend he was nearly alone in the world. Standish had his grandfather (his parents were taken) and now he had Hector. They play with a football Standish found and it ends up on the other side of a big government wall. That's when the trouble really starts. What if Standish hadn't found that football? What if it hadn't gone over the wall? What if that fool Hector didn't volunteer to go get it? Maybe then Hector wouldn't be gone too. Maybe Standish wouldn't have to save him and the rest of the Motherland people.
I don't know what I was expecting with this novel, but it wasn't this. This was very interesting. It was a completely unique tale about a young boy in a cruel world. This story will shock you and warm your heart.
Standish puts himself down a lot. He has dyslexia, and everyone tells him that means he's not very bright. I don't think this is the case at all. Standish is kind and thoughtful. Just because his reading and writing isn't the best, doesn't mean he can't form intelligent thoughts. It's a shame that most of his teachers only perpetuate the idea that he isn't bright instead of trying to help him in any way. This country, the Motherland, seems like a terrible place to be. It seems a bit like Nazi Germany and we all know how fun that was.
The violence in this novel is enough to make you sick. There's the school yard bullying which is bad enough, but then there's the teacher bullying (not to mention the government bullying). Standish's current teacher is the worst. He is a despicable person with no sense of decency, with his sick thoughts based only on self-preservation.
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