Review: Laugh with the Moon

Laugh with the Moon by Shana Burg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For the Read the World 21 challenge, this month focusing on South and East Africa, I have focused on countries I had not read books from yet. I came across this middle reader novel set in Malawi. It is more of an outsider view as the main character, Clare, is a white American who travels with her father who is in Malawi to work as a doctor for nine weeks. He has a history there and friends in the village. Clare has recently lost her mother and is struggling.

I prefer ownvoices reads but the benefit of an outsider view novel for kids can be the bridge between two cultures. The author had two readers in Malawi checking for cultural accuracy, and visited herself to study the education system, which figures pretty heavily into the novel.

It took me back to my childhood in a sideways way, when my mom coordinated missions at the church I grew up in and I had a very good friend and penpal who lived in Kenya with her missionary parents. Much of the day to day stuff including the food sounds similar to her experience, although she did attend a boarding school as she got older.

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