Octopus Moon - Rilegato

Pyron, Bobbie

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0593616294 ISBN 13: 9780593616291

Casa editrice: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2025

Riassunto

A deeply moving middle grade novel in verse about a girl struggling with depression when she starts fifth grade amidst a sea of changes.

Pearl loves watching the majestic loggerhead turtles and octopuses glide through the water at the aquarium. Pearl finds it especially easy to identify with the octopuses, who have millions of touch receptors all over their bodies. They feel everything. Sometimes, Pearl wishes she was more like a turtle, with a hard outer shell—it hurts too much to feel everything.

And the changes at the start of fifth grade don’t feel good to Pearl at all. New teachers, lockers, and being in different classes than her friends is unsettling. Pearl tries her best to pretend she’s fine, but she starts to struggle with things that used to come easy, like schoolwork, laughing and skateboarding with her best friend, Rosie, running and even sleeping.

After a disastrous parent-teacher conference, her parents decide to bring Pearl to Dr. Jill, who diagnoses her with depression. At first Pearl is resistant to Dr. Jill’s help; she doesn’t like feeling different, but she also doesn’t want to continue feeling so bad all the time. When Dr. Jill asks Pearl to try one Impossible Thing each day, like running, skateboarding, or walking her dog Tuck, she decides to try. For each impossible thing she attempts, Pearl puts a bead on a string. Bead by bead, and with the support of family and friends, Pearl finds her way back to herself. She discovers just like the moon is always there in the sky, even if it isn’t full, she’ll always be herself even when she doesn’t feel whole.

In this tender novel-in-verse, critically acclaimed author Bobbie Pyron draws from her own experiences to tell the story of a brave girl learning to take care of and love herself.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Bobbie Pyron has worked in libraries and bookstores in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah and has been active in local animal rescue work for many years. She’s the author of A Pup Called Trouble, A Dog’s Way Home, and Stay. Bobbie lives in Ashville, NC, with her husband, Todd, and their dog, Sherlock. Visit her at www.bobbiepyron.com.

Estratto. © Ristampato con autorizzazione. Tutti i diritti riservati.

Mama says
I can stay home from school.
Daddy doesn’t argue,
just looks at me
with a million questions in his eyes.

I just want to stay in my room
with Tuck
all day.

But no deal.
Mama says if I miss school
I have to
eat breakfast
make up my bed

brush my teeth
put on actual clothes
and
go to work with her.

I can’t spend the day
with Gram because Granddaddy
has a checkup with the doctor
and Gram has to go with him because
Granddaddy’s not much of a talker.
Especially to doctors.

I guess it could be worse.
I love the aquarium.
All the different worlds.
Alien worlds but
familiar as family too.
I feel safe there.

Thursdays at the Gulfarium are quiet,
which suits me just fine.
Mama hands me a bottle of cleaner
and a roll of paper towels.
“Do me a favor and clean the exhibits
in the Caribbean section.”

I clean nose- and fingerprints off
the glass fronts.
Today
there’s a new information sign
above the octopuses’ tank:
Octopuses have millions of touch receptors
all over their bodies. Just one tiny sucker on an octopus arm
has tens of thousands of touch sensors!
There is no barrier between what an octopus feels
and its world.

“I am an octopus,” I whisper.
“There is nothing between me and the world.”
Where did my hard turtle shell go?
The one I could hide in and not feel
Everything.

I take the back stairs down
to the Denizens of the Deep.
Maybe if I see Noah
the loggerhead turtle,
look into his black marble eyes,
I’ll see the old Pearl
reflected back.

I sit on a bench and watch
the sharks and rays and fish
in their peaceful world.
Then,
out of the corner of my eye,
I see Noah swim lazily up
from behind the sunken treasure chest.

I tap on the glass three times.
With a flap of his arms
he comes over.
We are almost nose to nose.
He turns his broad head sideways
for a better look.
“What do you see?” I whisper.

A stream of bubbles
rises from his nose in answer
like a sentence I can’t read.

Noah soars to the top of the tank
to drink in the air.
I can see bright light
above the water.
I can even see people moving around
like silver, wavy shadows.
But I am down here in the dark
separated from all that light
and life
above.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Nancy Paulsen Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2025
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0593616294
• ISBN 13: 9780593616291
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 336
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile