Description
It’s the 1970s and on Kangaroo Island, Mona McKenna and her brother Albert live with their grandparents at Cape Willoughby Lighthouse. For five long years they have mourned their mother and longed for their missing father to return. Since being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a year earlier, Mona has been increasingly acting in ways that make her hate herself. While she loves the rugged beauty of their isolated sanctuary—and dearly loves her grandparents—she yearns for her parents and finds her diabetes frightening and confusing. Mona finds solace in the treasures she collects along the island's shores. But when she encounters a mysterious sea lion pup, Neo, the world as she knows it is forever changed.
The two siblings embark on a journey that leads them to uncover secrets hidden within their family's past. As they bond with Neo, Mona and Albert's quest for truth takes them deeper into the heart of Kangaroo Island. With the fate of their beloved lighthouse hanging in the balance, they must summon courage and resilience to protect their home and the endangered sea lions who call it their own. Rich with folklore and brimming with adventure, Legend of the Lighthouse Moon is a captivating tale of family, resilience, and the enduring magic of the sea.
Join Mona on a journey ofself-discovery where the whispers of the past guide her towards a future filled with hope, love, and legends brought to life.
Review
Mona and her brother Albert live on Kangaroo Island with their grandparents who look after and run the lighthouse. It’s a remote place to live, but Mona loves it. She misses her mum, who died in a fire five years ago, and her dad who disappeared at the same time.
Mona ia finding things really hard now as she has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and she is struggling to cope with it. Mona finds collecting things on the beach helps her to settle and when she comes across a sea lion pup who she calls Neo, she enjoys his company and loves that she is welcomed by his family as well.
Mona and Albert start researching the sea lions - as her mum always told them stories about how they were magical, and how they would always look after them. Going through her mum’s things they find lots of information and drawings that her mum did of sea lions and selkies, humans who can become sea lions. Surely these are just stories from her mum and they can’t be true, can they? But when their beloved lighthouse is threatened with closure Mona and her family must do everything to save it, and the sea lions seem to understand the urgency and want to help too.
This is a wonderful story of family, resilience, looking after nature and all entwined with the myth of the selkies and the sea lions. Mona, Albert and their grandparents are all wonderful characters and the story flows so well that you feel like you are living it with them. Her diabetes is an integral part of the story, and her struggle and eventual acceptance make this a great read for anyone who lives with, or knows someone living with, this disease. I highly recommend this book for everyone 13 and up who love a mythical storyline.
