Once, in a Town Called Moth

Gr 7 Up—Anneli and her father are running. Or maybe they are really chasing. Anneli's mother left their Mennonite colony in Bolivia when Anneli was five. Now she and her father have arrived in Toronto, searching for the woman who left them behind. But is that the reason they really left? The teen is faced with trying to belong in a new place that has rules she does not understand while discovering the truth about her parents, herself, and what happened one night in a town called Moth. Told in alternating chapters that dart from the past in Bolivia to the present in Toronto, the story consists of threads that seem to have no connection until readers are presented with the final pieces. The author adeptly transforms 14-year-old Anneli from a sheltered Mennonite girl to a growing, more worldly young woman. Focused on a single event and its shape on a family, the narrative slowly reveals to Anneli and readers far more than she ever looked to find. The secondary characters are less developed, especially Anneli's father. While the title and premise of the book seem to suggest a great mystery to be solved, this works better as a coming-of-age tale.