Book Review - 'All Four Quarters of the Moon' by Shirley Marr

'All Four Quarters of the Moon' is such a lovely and touching middle grade book.

It's about Chinese culture, traditions, and changes in obligations (concerning gender roles) as each generation progresses. There are mooncakes and mooncake-making, but not much of it. It's mainly about family - sisterhood, parents and grandparents, and about friendship, the unceasing imagination and creativity in childhood (that must never be outgrown and forgotten about), how art is never a waste of time, storytelling throughout the ages, introspections, and the bonds we form that transcend countries and cultures from all over the globe.

We are all human, we are all children of the earth.

'All Four Quarters of the Moon' by Shirley Marr is a coming-of-age story, that touches on finding yourself as you grow up and adapt to scary changes.

Anyone at any age reading this will find it helpful in healing their anxiety and depression.

No one is alone in the world, or the universe.

Eleven-year-old Peijing Guo and her five-year-old little sister Biju are adorable, realistic girls. They are beautiful, creative, and whole; full of wonder like the moon. Throughout reading I wished for the best for these out-of-place, overwhelmed and overburdened children as they move with their parents and grandmother from Singapore to Australia because of their father's new job. Peijing is especially pressured by her mother to grow up too fast as the older sister; to be a good example to the impolite, ill-mannered and rebellious Biju. But both girls are great as they are, as the mother will hopefully come to appreciate.

The entire book is a magical slice-of-life - a slice of mooncake--no, a slice of childhood. It helped me remember what it was like to be a kid, to retain innocence despite whatever happened around me; despite the mistakes of adults. I remember making things like Peijing and Biju's Little World!

It's also a real, complex, loving sister story. I rooted for the two equally.

'All Four Quarters of the Moon' deserves praise for its racial diversity, and, more meaningful and truthful of our reality still, for showcasing that no matter what race you are, our capitalist society will hate you if you are poor. It loathes poor people. This is represented through Joanna, Peijing's new friend from school in Australia, who is white, blonde and blue-eyed, but is impoverished (and from an abusive household, which thankfully she is saved from by the end of the novel), so she is ostracised by the rest of her classmates. How wonderful that Joanna has Peijing (plus little Biju) now, and their magic hollow tree they retreat into as their sanctuary.

No matter the harshness of the world, of events outside your control, books like 'All Four Quarters of the Moon' remind you there is hope, love, tenderness, gentleness, and comfort to be found. And sparks. And stars and the moon. I feel warm, dreamy, faithful, tranquil and happy thinking about it.

The book also teaches you that your family may surprise you by how complex and complicated they truly are, and they do love you unconditionally, though sadly that is not always the case.

Friendships can be unexpected life occurrences, as well.

I adore the storytelling portions before each chapter. It's where the sisters' bond is strongest and most innocent, as Biju tells her own versions of Chinese legends and folktales to Peijing. She is so sharp for a five-year-old!

I cannot recommend 'All Four Quarters of the Moon' highly enough. There may not be much about the moon and mooncakes here, plus there is a little paper Jade Rabbit of the Moon that is important to Biju that then disappears at some point near the end and isn't mentioned again. But there are young sisters, childhood, family connections and understanding, friendships and how to make them last, and stories. All within this beautiful, precious, heartwarming, emotional story.

Hope and love exist within books like it.

Not bad considering I almost quit on the second page when it pulled the "released the breath [I/she] didn't know [I/she] was holding" dealbreaker cliché.

Read it, and other magical, touching, worldly, educational, life-changing children's books like 'Safiyyah's War' and 'A Greyhound of a Girl', and the picture books 'Eyes that Kiss in the Corners', 'Suki's Kimono' and 'A Big Mooncake for Little Star' for good measure.

For measuring a big mooncake, to share with family and friends.

Final Score: 4/5