Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech
 The novel is narrated by a 13 year old girl, Salamanca Tree Hiddle (Sal). Sal's mother, Sugar, has recently left Sal and her father for reasons that are initially unclear. Sal, an only child, has had a very close relationship with her mother and is devastated by her departure. After Sal's father realizes that Sugar will never return, he and Sal move from their beloved farm in Bybanks, Kentucky to Euclid, Ohio, where a woman with whom he has recently become involved, Mrs.Magaret Cadaver, helps him find a job. Sal's beloved Gram and Gramps take her on a cross-country car trip to Lewiston, Idaho to reach her mother in time for her birthday; Sal hopes to bring Sugar home with her. On the trip, Sal entertains her grandparents by telling them about a friend in Euclid, Phoebe Winterbottom, whose mother, after many manifestations of discontent with her life, has also left her family. Intertwined with Sal's narrative is the story of her growing friendship with several classmates and her tentative romance with one of these classmates, Ben Finney. Over the course of the book, as Sal and her grandparents travel west, and Sal continues telling Phoebe's story, parallels and differences between Sal's and Phoebe's lives become clear. Sal's grandmother dies of a stroke just after she has achieved one of her lifelong wishes, seeing Old Faithful in Yellowstone, and right before they are due to arrive in Lewiston. Sal's grandfather, who has previously taught Sal how to drive, encourages Sal to complete the journey to Lewiston. There, she visits the site of a bus crash. We learn that Sal's mother has died in a horrific bus crash whose only survivor was Mrs. Cadaver. At this point --- the novel's denouement --- the reader realizes that Sal has already been told of the accident and her mother's death; however, she has not been able to believe that her mother is truly dead until she sees the site of the crash and her mother's grave. Sal now accepts her loss. She and her grandfather return home, and Sal and her father return to rebuild their life on their farm in Bybanks, where Sal can once again gather strength from the nature that she loves. She maintains her friendships with Phoebe, Ben, and Mrs. Cadaver, who make plans to visit her on her farm.