Luna Howls at the Moon
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Uniquely narrated from a therapy dog’s perspective, Luna Howls at the Moon by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb follows an evening’s journey of three children in group therapy who set out, unbeknownst to their counselor and parents, to find the missing member of their group. Luna is very close to earning her service dog pin. A few more sessions and it will be all hers. Her owner, Tessa, is a counselor working with four children - Beatrice, Caleb, Amelia, and Hector. Tessa is trying out group therapy for the four of them. At their second meeting in a church basement, Tessa’s therapy is interrupted by the parents arguing in the upper level. As Tessa goes to quiet them down, Beatrice suggests they leave to find Hector who is a no show. From the previous therapy meeting, Beatrice is interested in seeing Hector’s hover board that he made, which he was supposed to bring to therapy tonight. Beatrice instigates the leaving of group therapy to find him by being the first to climb through the basement window. Committed to duty, Luna struggles to make it through the window and almost falls back, requiring the help of Beatrice, Caleb, and Amelia to make it out. The children proceed to command her to stay, but Luna will not leave the children alone and she goes after them as they leave and enter the city of Austin, Texas to find Hector and his hover board.
City life at night is not the place for three young children alone. They go through many mishaps and misadventures as they work through some of the issues that brought them to therapy in the first place, and as they form a bond and friendship with one another. Through it all, Luna is with them.
One aspect of the story that is introduced while roaming the streets and looking for the park they believe Hector to be at is a mangy, orange, one-eyed cat named Sandpaper. Sandpaper becomes an additional narrator within the story as he begins to narrate the adventure and quest as it relates to storyline structures and characterization. It is a really cute way of telling the story and simultaneously teaching the plot structure of stories themselves to readers.
Quick notes of mention:
On page 40, the parents are complaining upstairs, and the children overhear one parent saying, “If my insurance would keep covering the one-on-one sessions, you bet your sweet bippy my girl would be in those. There’s not even enough chairs in this crappy room for all of us to sit and wait.”
On page 95, Beatrice calls someone a “mumblehole.” Caleb responds on page 96 with his mother’s advice that they are “better way[s] to express yourself than using a curse word.” Beatrice then goes on to push Caleb about whether or not he has ever cussed and encourages him to do so. After pushing him a bit about it, she tells him to “shout out the foulest, stinkiest word [he] know[s].” To her shock, he yells “CHECKMAAAAAAAAAATE!” (98). She again challenges how this is a foul word. Caleb replies, “It means death and destruction! It means bloody battles and coldhearted strategy and terrifying defeat and kingdoms falling! It’s the deterioration of a whole society! A regime is about to crumble! The world as you know it will cease to be! If that’s not foul and stinky, I don’t know what is!” (99). The characters then go on to use “CHECKMATE” as their foul word to yell in other instances later in the book.
Beatrice seems to be in therapy due to the loss of her beloved grammy. She speaks of her mom being more of a friend to her, but her grammy being more like her mom and there are moments of sadness where she mentions how much she misses her.
Caleb’s parents are in the middle of a nasty divorce seeking to use him against each other. In addition to the divorce, Caleb has a phobia of germs.
Amelia has chosen to be a mute after an event in which her house was intentionally set on fire.
There are two teenage goons who go after the children a few times but in the end they are caught by police for an unrelated activity.
It is on page 112 that these two boys reveal to readers why Amelia is silent and in therapy.
In chapter 17, page 133-134 there is a mention of a story of a serial killer in Austin known as “Servant Girl Annihilator” who killed young girls at night. As a result, the town purchased huge lights to put in a park.
On page 138, Caleb must face one of his greatest fears - using a port-a-jon. Beatrice encourages him to do it and he finally does. Meanwhile, Luna cannot understand why humans go in there because the stink is so bad and she cannot wait to get away.
Towards the end once the children have been found, Tessa is meeting with each of the children to determine their continuation in group therapy after the eventful night out. Luna narrates about Amelia at this meeting, “Tries to look sorry for what they did. But she doesn’t feel sorry. She feels sneaky and brave, and she feels proud of her sneakiness and bravery. This I know” (199).
On page 218, Sandpaper says to Luna, “A hero isn’t usually a hero because of one big act of bravery. No. A hero more often looks like a lot of small acts of friendship. Every day. Through every THING. You are a hero because you never left these kids, Luna. You never left their side. You never forgot your duty.”
“Almost isn’t a feeling, but … it is. It feels close but not there. It feels like a fur coat full of static electricity or a too-short length of a leash. It can feel like frustration if you let it.
Or almost can feel like excitement. Like you’re on the edge of something wonderful, on the shore about to leap into war water, to splash in yellow joy with your friends” (224).
This story does a nice job, through the lens of a service dog, to shed light on some of the circumstances of life that some children find themselves in. While running away from parents to navigate a city at night is not an action to encourage with children, the situation itself opens the window for some readers to explore the experiences that children their same age face in a broken world. It can open the eyes to compassion and empathy. It can encourage readers who love to be helpers to consider a profession in which they can help those in need who are working through trauma. Overall, the story is clean and the children learn that they are resilient and that finding friends you can confide in can help shoulder the burden. In the end, all of the children are eager to continue group therapy and the building of their friendship.
