Moonlight by David Rose is a middle grades YA fantasy about the eleven-year-old Tadao, his childhood gal pal Yuzuki, her magical cat Gekkō-san, and their journey through childhood into true love.
Tadao and his parents just moved into town, and the mother shoos her son into the garden to explore while she unpacks.
A beautiful cat with silver-grey fur and pale golden eyes squeezes through the fence and sits down as comfortable as you please. A pretty ten-year-old girl follows her kitty into the garden, and so begins the wonderful friendship between two lonely children. They soon became as close as brother and sister, and also best friends.
The teens’ friendship turns into young love. As often happens with working parents, in less than four years Tadao’s parents must move to another town. A few months after Tadao moves away, the biggest loss takes Yuzuki away forever. But the little cat Gekkō-san works her magic with the moonlight, and nothing is ever the same for Tadao.
Moonlight is a bittersweet story full of beautiful images. David Rose uses a skilled touch capturing the innocence and sweetness of solemn childhood promises. A life of duty and inevitability swirl around these children living in their Japanese world. This story would delight all young YA readers with its rich fantasy world and a most magical moonlight-colored cat.
Lita Burke 
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