SuitabookWabanaki blues
Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel
- Reading
- Read with attention to the distinction between the cold case and cosmic mystery. Pause to discuss Mona’s changing circumstances, while remembering that the ending and the mysteries’ resolutions remain unclear.
- Themes
- Belonging and identity: Mona moves from Hartford to live with her Native American grandfather in New Hampshire and is brought closer to understanding her place in the world. The premise clearly makes belonging important, but it does not establish whether the book presents any particular conclusion or value judgement.
- Mystery and knowledge: Mona investigates a cold-case murder and a larger cosmic mystery; each book in the trilogy contains both celestial and terrestrial mysteries. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Family change: Mona’s parents send her to live with her grandfather, placing a new family relationship at the centre of the story. The arrangement creates a clear family situation, but the book’s judgement of the parents’ decision and relationships is not known.
- Worth knowing
- A useful focus is how Mona’s relocation changes her relationship with family, music and place. The murder investigation also offers an opportunity to discuss how mystery narratives handle unresolved harm.