YA Corner: Reading by Moonlight

My friend has a freshly painted periwinkle blue home. It is a striking change of color after 20+ years of being a pleasant light tan. One of her teenaged sons had a “Eureka!” moment and felt an urgent sense to paint the exterior walls blue. To be sure, he may have caught some of his inspiration from his mother who had recently dipped brushes in several paint cans to beautify the bedrooms and bathrooms. At any rate, it was only a matter of days before the thought became a reality. In addition to the tall planks of periwinkle, there is now a front porch painted a deep red. And front steps painted alternating colors of the red and blue. The home looks charming and welcoming — perfectly matching the warmth of the delightful people who live inside. I say live “inside” the home but now with an eye-popping large front porch, it is as if there is a whole new outdoor room to claim as living space. In fact, the family now regularly spends evening time reading out on the porch. They bundle up in blankets if the evening is cool and unwind with conversation and books.

In less than a week this family will have one more thing to enjoy about their outdoor room: a Harvest Moon in the night sky. I am not a great whiz at astronomy, but that never stopped my enjoyment and wonder at the time of Harvest Moon. September 8-9 is the designated Harvest Moon night when a full moon is closest to the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. I tend to feel that the Harvest moon is bigger, brighter and more colorful than other full moons, and there are songs (who really can resist the Neil Young tune?), stories, and some scientific facts to back me up.

Deborah Byrd on the website Earthsky explains, “The Harvest Moon is celebrated for featuring the year’s grandest procession of moonlit nights…. The orange color of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. It stems from the fact that – when you look toward the horizon – you are looking through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze up and overhead. The atmosphere scatters blue light – that’s why the sky looks blue. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of a horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes. So a moon near the horizon takes on a yellow or orange or reddish hue. The bigger-than-usual size of a moon seen near the horizon is something else entirely. It’s a trick that your eyes are playing – an illusion – called the Moon Illusion. You can find lengthy explanations of the Moon Illusion by googling those words yourself.”

If you figured that the name “Harvest Moon” was associated with farmers bringing in the crops at the end of the growing season, you would be correct. A farmer could continue working past sunset by the light of the Harvest moon and bring in a bounty of produce through the evening. Another name for Harvest Moon is Singing Moon. This fun name is a reference to the joyful singing at the end of a long season of growing and harvesting.

Here is one last nifty thing about our Harvest Moon this year: it’s a supermoon and that’s because the Harvest Moon comes one month after the year’s closest and largest full moon on August 10, 2014.I am reminded of this exquisite verse of scripture in Doctrine & Covenants 88:45: “The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God.”

To celebrate this nocturnal event, here are several recently published books of fiction wherein moonlight plays a part in each storyline. I highly recommend these young adult/junior titles, whatever age you are. So find a good book, head outside, and enjoy some reading by moonlight!

A Creature of Moonlight, by Rebecca Hahn, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
“The girls who escape into the forbidden woods do it for one reason: freedom. But Marni has never heeded the voices that call to her from among the trees, the ones that lured her mother away so many years ago. Marni is the rightful heir to the throne, though she lives in exile, growing flowers for the court. While it isn’t the life of a princess, at least she’s been safe — until now. The voices in the woods have grown too loud to ignore. When the trees themselves begin to move in on the kingdom, Marni knows she must make a choice. She could claim her birthright as princess of a realm whose ruthless king wants her dead. Or she could make a life with the father she has never known: the wild dragon who is sending his magical woods to capture her.” — Houghton Mifflin Harcourt dust jacket

The Night Gardener, by Jonathan Auxier, Amulet Books, 2014
“Molly and Kip are driving a fish cart, pulled by a horse named Galileo, to their deaths. That’s what everyone’s been telling them anyway. Living without parents, Molly sees herself as her brother’s guardian and is intent upon finding a safe place for the both of them. When she’s hired to work as a servant at the mysterious Windsor estate she thinks the job might be too good to be true. Indeed, the place (located deep in something called ‘the sour woods’) is a decrepit old mansion falling apart at the seams. The locals avoid it and advise the kids to do so too. Things are even stranger inside. The people who live in the hollow home appear to be both pale and drawn. And it isn’t long before both Molly and Kip discover the mysterious night gardener, who enters the house unbidden every evening, tending to a tree that seems to have a life of its own. A tree that can grant you your heart’s desire if you would like. And all it wants in return? Nothing you’d ever miss. Just a piece of your soul.” — SLJ, Review of the Day, Elizabeth Bird.

Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell, Simon and Schuster, 2013.
“On the morning of its first birthday, a baby was found floating in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel. The baby, Sophie, may have survived a shipwreck but her life really begins when an eccentric but loving bachelor brought her home. Charles uses toast as a bookmark and welcomes Sophie writing on the walls. But when a child services organization threatens to remove Sophie to an orphanage, she and Charles flee to Paris to search for the one thing that might save her: her long-lost mother. They are aided by Matteo and his band of ‘rooftoppers.’” — Simon & Schuster, dust jacket

12 Minutes to Midnight, by Christopher Edge,Whitman, 2014
“As 1899 draws to a close, a savvy young writer of gothic tales becomes embroiled in a perplexing mystery in this first volume of a proposed trilogy.

“Since inheriting the Penny Dreadful, 13-year-old orphan Penelope Tredwell has ‘single-handedly acted as the magazine’s editor, lead author, and publisher,’ though she hides her true identity behind the pseudonym Montgomery Flinch. Now the ‘most celebrated author in Britain,’ Penelope hires an actor to impersonate Flinch to promote sales. Receiving an urgent plea from the superintendent of Bedlam, the lunatic asylum, for Flinch’s assistance, Penelope sees the potential for her next horror story. Masquerading as Flinch’s niece, Penelope investigates, intrigued by accounts of patients arising in a trance at 12 minutes to midnight each night to compulsively write delirious, prophetic ramblings. Penelope’s investigation leads her to reclusive Lady Cambridge, aka the Spider Lady of South Kensington, whose diabolical plot to control the future threatens to plunge London into madness. Bold and intelligent beyond her years, Penelope pursues Lady Cambridge into London’s darkest places, facing gothic horrors greater than any she has written. Edge successfully delivers his own penny dreadful in the riveting style of a Victorian mystery.” — Kirkus Reviews, Jan. 8, 2014