Available now at Audible

Recommendation – Buy, Borrow or Skip? 

If you’re keeping up with the Kardashians – ahem, the Leighs – buy the book. If you want the entire trilogy, but it! If you simply want to enjoy the storyline and the characters, borrow it.

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Comments: With a name like “Toucan Trilogy” and one of the characters constantly being referred to as “Toucan”, I worried that this story would be too young for my tastes. While the characters are supposed to be young, the main character Abby seemed far older than her years, acting as practically a constantly worrying mother to her younger siblings. The story itself was somber, deep, often depressing (definitely not a light pick-me-up pieces), bleak (though it did have an edge of hope to it and strength). It often made me think of Nevil Schute’s On the Beach with the same bleak outlook of a post-apocalyptic world right after the cataclysmic event with the few survivors fighting to stay alive and watching fellow survivors die around them, and the gruesomeness of seeing the dead around them, pulling no punches in the gut-wrenching details. This could have easily turned into a take on Lord of the Flies, but the Castine children came together beyond their years and figured out how to hold onto to and worth together in a community. And it was indeed heartbreaking losing characters as they aged out and died excruciating painful deaths. No one in this felt cardboard or cliche. Everyone felt well-rounded, even the side characters.

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I discovered an interesting review of the Night of the Purple Moon by a blogger who says: I read and write reviews for the enjoyment it gives me. I do this for fun.I have a love for the written word, and I am a person of literary intrigue at heart. Seriously – if I could spend the rest of my life taking literature courses, I’d be the happiest person on the planet, but there are bills to pay, so for now I’m content teaching language arts.

The Take-Away

“There were genuine emotions – from multiple characters – that made the purple comet and all the aftereffects seem so real. This development of the characters and the plot could have been easily overlooked and kind of wiped on by as the novel progresses, but they are present and they are real. It gave the book heart.”

Read the entire review here.

By Scott Cramer

Joe loved his swamp next to the airport. It had mucky mud to burrow in, tasty grubs to munch on, a few scrawny water lilies to look at, and a flat rock for sunning himself on.

One day a crumpled picture blew into Joe’s home. His heart thumped faster at the sight of so many plump pink water lilies in Paris, France. He had to see this ‘Great Swamp’.

Joe crawled across the warm airport pavement and rode the conveyor belt into the jet bound for France. Wedged between two suitcases, he dreamed about swimming in the Great Swamp.

The customs official in France stamped the bottom of Joe’s shell: New York – Handle with Care.

Joe rode round and round the luggage carousel until the pilot picked him up. “You must see the great fountain in Saint Michael’s Square,” the pilot said. “We’ll take a cab.”

The cool, bubbly water felt good. Joe swam to the bottom of the fountain and nibbled on a shiny coin. Grubs tasted much better.

“You must see the great reflecting pool in Luxembourg Gardens,” a girl told Joe. She carefully placed him in her backpack, and they headed off on her skateboard.

Joe had fun racing a toy sailboat, and that made him hungry. A woman scattered breadcrumbs on the shimmering water, but goldfish gobbled up all the crumbs before he could get there.

“You must see our great river, the Seine,” a boy said and cradled Joe under his arm. “We’ll ride the Metro together.”

The river current was strong, and Joe swam over to the river bank to rest. “You must see our great museum,” an artist said. She scooped Joe up and gently placed him in her wooden box of paints and brushes.

Joe blinked. The Great Swamp hung on the wall. It was a painting. All of a sudden, he felt homesick, and a tear rolled down his cheek. The artist snapped his picture.

Later, the museum curator raced over to show Joe the newspaper. It had a big picture of Joe with the headline: ‘Turtle Moved to Tears by Claude Monet Painting’

The curator set up an aquarium, and soon thousands of people lined up to see Joe.

Joe’s new home had clean sand on the bottom, a heat lamp, all the crispy lettuce he could eat, and, of course, an excellent view of the Great Swamp. But he missed his swamp by the airport.

One evening, as Joe was floating on his back, the janitor exclaimed, “You are from New York!” Joe rolled over and over and then paddled in circles. He made it clear that he wanted to go home.

Fitting for a VIT (Very Important Turtle), Joe was driven to the airport in a motorcade with sirens blaring and lights flashing.

Joe rode in the cockpit. The clouds looked like giant pink water lilies blooming in the blue sky.

Back home, Joe snacked on grubs until he was sleepy and then he napped on his flat, sunny rock. When he opened his eyes, he saw the greatest water lilies ever.

©Scott Cramer 2015