A Place to Hang the Moon

Reader’s Review

A beautiful book in so many ways – a book about the harsh reality of life during WWII, a book about sibling love, and a book about perseverance, kindness and generosity. While there are some accounts of cruel foster families and circumstances which may disturb sensitive readers (especially one scene describing the killing of rats), overall it is a gentle and hopeful story. Highly recommended.

To look out for

• Islamic Values: The three siblings make occasional reference to their grandmother who didn’t care for them. They are not sad when she passes away, but concerned about their own future. In order to hide the truth about not having a guardian, siblings must lie numerous times about their grandmother being alive. Siblings play occasional prank, in one scene one of them places a dead snake in the bed of a cruel foster brother.
• Violence: Two boys in one of the foster homes bully the siblings and steal their things. They blame the children for various misdeeds, and there is some physical violence between the children (at one point the older brother punches another boy to keep his brother from being badly hurt). In their second home a harsh mother makes treats them cruelly, and eventually they leave when she hits one of them. There is a graphic description of boys earning money by killing rats- the brother become sick when they are forced to crush the rats.
• Romance: One girl in the village school is interested in the oldest brother, and tries to talk to him or sit next to him. At one time she tries to hold his hand. But he is horrified and hates the idea.