A COOL MOONLIGHT

By Angela Johnson

Image Credit: www.goodreads.com

1. Bibliographic 

Johnson, Angela. A Cool Moonlight. New York: Puffin Books, 2003. Print. ISBN 0803728468

2. Plot Summary

Lila is a young girl who is about to turn nine years old and hasn't been in the sunlight since she was a baby. Lila was born with a rare allergy to the sun and some artificial lights, xeroderma pigmentosum. Lila is a child who stays up late at night to play outside in the moonlight and is home schooled by her mother during the day. Lila has two friends who only come to see her when she is playing in the moonlight alone, Alyssa and Elizabeth. With the help of these two friends and a "sun bag", Lila has decided that when she turns nine she will be able to go into the sunlight just like everyone else. 

3. Critical Analysis

A COOL MOONLIGHT by Angela Johnson is a short novel and consist of many things imaginary. At the beginning of the story the reader is left to believe that Lila's friends, Alyssa and Elizabeth are real until Lila's older sister never gets a chance to see them.  The reader is left trying to figure out what is real and what is fake throughout the story. Around the middle of the story I begin to think that Alyssa and Elizabeth were make believe friends until Lila sees them at a department store.  Then you begin to wonder again until the end of the story when Lila is being lifted into the air by fireflies. Most children will believe that Alyssa and Elizabeth were fireflies all along.

In the story we see a strong family bond who does everything they can to take care of Lila.  The mother home schools Lila, the older sister Monk takes Lila into town at night to hang out, and their father works nights so that he can be home during the day for Lila. Lila also has a birthday party at night and the family has taken night vacations in the past.

I could not distinguish any cultural markers in this story. The language in the story does not distinguish it as African American dialect. Dad comes home one morning and ask "what's up, kid?" This could be a phase used by anyone. The conversations in the story were simple sentences and much of the story was from Lila's point of view. Angela Johnson did not use any capitalization in the book including proper names. The language is simple sentences and with lots of white spaces. The only illustrations present in the book were of the sun and moon. Johnson uses words that describe the situation well for the reader including descriptive words. "it'll be just like a movie, me walking on the beach in the sun. seagulls will fly over and dive-bomb fish out in the water...it's going to be warm on my face with no blisters or burning."  

4. Review Excepts

~KIRKUS (9/2003): "Poignant, evocative, and as lingering as sunburn, Lila's story is one of courage, hope, and dreams."

~BOOKLIST (10/2003): "Though few readers suffer from Lila’s illness, many will recognize the ragged path she consciously takes as she lets go of a fantasy that has sustained her and begins to leave childhood behind. The book’s real magic resides in the spell cast by Johnson’s spare, lucid, lyrical prose. Using simple words and vivid sensory images, she creates Lila’s inner world as a place of quiet intensity— spun gossamer that proves immensely, unexpectedly strong."

5. Connections

~After reading this story, students could research more about the skin condition and how the condition is being treated. 

~Students could respond to the prompt, "If you couldn't go into the sunlight, what would you do and how would you interact with friends that could?"