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Ibi ZoboiA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
“Half a Moon” by Renée Watson
“Black Enough” by Varian Johnson
“Warning: Color May Fade” by Leah Henderson
“Black. Nerd. Problems.” by Lamar Giles
“Out of the Silence” by Kekla Magoon
“The Ingredients” by Jason Reynolds
“Oreo” by Brandy Colbert
“Samson and the Delilahs” by Tochi Onyebuchi
“Stop Playing” by Liara Tamani
“Wild Horses, Wild Hearts” by Jay Coles
“Whoa!” by Rita Williams-Garcia
“Gravity” by Tracey Baptiste
“The Trouble With Drowning” by Dhonielle Clayton
“Kissing Sarah Smart” by Justina Ireland
“Hackathon Summers” by Coe Booth
“Into the Starlight” by Nic Stone
“The (R)evolution of Nigeria Jones” by Ibi Zoboi
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Seventeen-year-old Raven is the Black protagonist of the story “Half a Moon.” Because her father left when she was seven and because she enjoyed attending as a kid, Raven works as a camp counselor at the Brown Girls Hike summit for extra money. She insists that she remembers her father—despite her mother’s protests—as she has memories of camping and fishing with him. She holds anger toward Brooke, her dad’s daughter from another woman, who was born 10 years ago as their parents broke up. She comments on how Brooke “is not [her] family. She is the girl who broke [her] family” (4).
Raven is a dynamic character who makes a change in how she views Brooke throughout the course of the text. She starts out by holding bitterness toward Brooke, actively avoiding her and ignoring the situation as other campers bully her. When Brooke ends up missing, however, her feelings toward Brooke change. She realizes that she “is seventeen and [she] should have taken responsibility for watching her, should have stood up for her, made her feel like she belonged so she wouldn’t think she had to prove anything by taking a silly dare” (15). Through her conversation with the “monster”—really the woman who owns the land—she bonds with Brooke, realizing how young she is and the guidance that she needs.
By Ibi Zoboi