Book Review: Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer

Genre: (Middle Grade) Apocalyptic/Dystopian

Publishing Date: January 1, 2012

Publisher: Train Renoir Publishing

The Blurb:
Abby Leigh is looking forward to watching the moon turn purple. For months, astronomers have been predicting that Earth will pass through the tail of a comet. They say that people will see colorful sunsets and, best of all, a purple moon.

But nobody has predicted the lightning-fast epidemic that sweeps across the planet on the night of the purple moon. The comet brings space dust with it that contains germs that attack human hormones. Older teens and adults die within hours of exposure.

On a small island off the coast of Maine, Abby must help her brother and baby sister survive in this new world, but all the while she has a ticking time bomb inside of her -- adolescence

My Review:
Night of the Purple Moon is a story of survival under an impossible situation. In one night, all children lose their parents. Some lost older siblings too. All adults are gone. The main characters are all unusually mature for their age. It's easy to forget how young they are. My main issues come within the details. One detail that bothered me most had to do with coyotes. I'm an animal person, so situations involving animals always grab my attention more than others. Having grown up on a farm, I know all too well about coyotes. I also know that they get blamed for a lot of things they don't do due to improper identification. With that being said, I'm not going to get on my Coyotes vs Dogs soap box here. My question is: Where were all the homeless dogs? Were there no pets on this island prior to the purple moon? Where coyotes made a very early appearance, there was no mention of scavenging dogs at all. Coyotes were also a nuisance later in the story with the cows and chickens. In this particular story, I would imagine they would be having more problems with dogs that have gone wild and scavenging to survive long before coyotes. Especially, since these dogs would have no little to fear of humans. To me, it would just make more sense. This will probably seem like a small detail to most, but it's the small details that can make or break a story sometimes.

I enjoyed they way the children created a sense of community. They each had their jobs within the community and they were all key to their survival. The story was entertaining, and different. That aspect alone kept me engaged in the story. While this story wasn't for me, I know there are many out there who will love it.

Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer was provided to me from the author for review. The opinions are my own.

To learn more about Scott Cramer and her books, visit his blog.You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.