Review: A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley

Title: A Little Wanting Song
Author: Cath Crowley
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Release date: April 28th 2005
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
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CHARLIE DUSKIN loves music, and she knows she's good at it. But she only sings when she's alone, on the moonlit porch or in the back room at Old Gus's Secondhand Record and CD Store. Charlie's mom and grandmother have both died, and this summer she's visiting her grandpa in the country, surrounded by ghosts and grieving family, and serving burgers to the local kids at the milk bar. She's got her iPod, her guitar, and all her recording equipment, but she wants more: A friend. A dad who notices her. The chance to show Dave Robbie that she's not entirely unspectacular.
ROSE BUTLER lives next door to Charlie's grandfather and spends her days watching cars pass on the freeway and hanging out with her troublemaker boyfriend. She loves Luke but can't wait to leave their small country town. And she's figured out a way: she's won a scholarship to a science school in the city, and now she has to convince her parents to let her go. This is where Charlie comes in. Charlie, who lives in the city, and whom Rose has ignored for years. Charlie, who just might be Rose's ticket out.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I fell in love with Cath Crowley's writing in Graffiti Moon, and it's what I loved most about A Little Wanting Song, too. Cath Crowley has a style that makes the words jump off the page, that makes everything feel... alive. Her writing is gorgeous, making me stop to marvel at the beauty and honesty of it all throughout the novel.

A Little Wanting Song is told in alternating points of view, switching between Charlie and Rose. Charlie is a character I loved with all my heart. Her voice is honest and raw; it has a very vulnerable feel to it. Charlie's character growth is tremendous, and I loved being with her on this journey. I loved what Charlie's interest in music brought to the story, especially because the chapters are interspersed with her song lyrics. I commend Cath Crowley for perfecting the balance between having the lyrics fit to Charlie's character and making them stunningly beautiful.

Rose is a very different character; Cath Crowley gave her characters very unique voices. She's more of the troublemaker-type, not exactly something I'd relate to, but I liked seeing the different sides to her, seeing the differences between how Charlie sees her and how Rose sees herself. I didn't love Rose's storyline as much as Charlie's, though - I just thought her character growth wasn't as developed.

What struck me most about A Little Wanting Song was the setting, the atmosphere Cath Crowley has created here. I always love books set in Australia - there's just something about them. The small-town setting is vivid and just really well done.

The only part I didn't like is the romance. I'm never a fan of forcing romance on a story that doesn't need it, and it felt sort of like that in A Little Wanting Song. Dave's a nice guy, but I didn't feel any real chemistry between him and Charlie; that whole storyline is underdeveloped, in my opinion.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this book. It doesn't have the same spark as Graffiti Moon, that feeling that would make it an instant favorite, but I really liked it. It's the subtle and poignant story of two very different girls finding themselves in an unlikely friendship.

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Title: Graffiti Moon
Author: Cath Crowley
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release date: February 14th 2012 (first published in Australia on August 1st 2010)
Pages: 264
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: NetGalley - thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing a free eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.
His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.
Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.
But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

First sentence:

I pedal fast.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars


First off, I love the cover for Graffiti Moon - it's gorgeous! It fits the book perfectly, with the night lights and graffiti-like writing and everything. And it's just so cute!


I knew absolutely nothing about this book when I started it. I hadn't even read the description. So even though the "But the one thing Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes" makes it obvious what's going on with Shadow, it wasn't obvious for me. The plot is great; a little slow in the middle, but other than that, it's interesting. The ideas of what happens to Lucy and Ed are crazy and hilarious and just so much fun.


This book is like a mixture of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (my review), and Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff (my review). The idea is similar to Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - a guy and a girl on a crazy adventure through the entire city for one night - and the characters Ed and Leo (especially Leo) could be street kids from Brooklyn, Burning. Graffiti Moon has Brooklyn, Burning's beautiful writing, too. And since I love both Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Brooklyn, Burning, of course I loved Graffiti Moon, too!


The writing is what's best about Graffiti Moon. It's gorgeous, so vivid you can imagine everything perfectly. I even loved Poet's poetry. I rarely like when a book's characters write poetry in between chapters - the style either doesn't fit to the character's voice and is basically just the author's poetry, or it fits to the character but is, well, not good. The poems in Graffiti Moon, though, are amazing. Cath Crowley manages to make them authentic but also plain beautiful.


The descriptions of the graffiti are amazing. When I think graffiti, I think vandalism, just something sloppy and ugly sprayed on a wall to get attention or annoy the people who own that wall. But that's not the case at all in Graffiti Moon. The stuff Shadow and Poet do sounds amazing, and it's real art. I could imagine their pieces easily because of the descriptive and beautiful writing, and the pieces sound gorgeous. I wish my town had graffiti artists like Shadow and Poet.


The characters are great. All of them are different and unique, but you can understand and connect to each one of them. Lucy's insecurities and hopes are easy to relate to, and her quirkiness put a smile on my face. Even though Ed is extremely different from me and makes some stupid decisions, I didn't have any problems relating to him and feeling for him, either. The only thing I didn't get is why Ed agreed to go looking for Shadow in the first place. The relationship between Ed and Lucy is great - the way they interact is sweet and hilarious, very entertaining.


I loved the little sub-plots, the secondary characters Leo, Jazz, Daisy and Dylan. All of them are quirky and interesting to read about, and their relationships added a lot to the story. I liked the less important characters like Lucy's parents, Ed's mom, Al and Bert, too - all of them are fully-developed and unique characters.


Graffiti Moon is a surprisingly enjoyable read, considering I knew nothing about it beforehand. With vivid, atmospheric writing, quirky characters, and a hilarious plot, this story will have you laughing one minute and crying the next. Graffiti Moon is a beautiful portrayal of love, friendship, and finding yourself.