Review Detail

5.0 1
Middle Grade Fiction 616
Another Hit from Lloyd and Nutter
(Updated: June 03, 2026)
Overall rating
 
4.0
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
4.0
Luna, whose mother died when she was a baby, lives in California with her father. She's planning a girls' trip to Los Angeles with her good friends Gabriella and Mia, but her father breaks bad news to her: because of his job, he is being transferred to the Washington, D.C. area, and the two are going to be staying with her mother's mother, whom Luna has only seen once a year and doesn't feel a connection to at all. She has to start 7th grade in a new school, but does join the school nature club, since her mother was an outdoorsy person. Luna is not, but once her grandmother gives her her mother's nature journals, Luna starts one of her own, and spends more time outside. It helps that neighbors Sophie and Oliver are out a lot, and the club introduces her to some of the parks and museums in the area. It's not easy to get along with her grandmother, who has lots of rules about not leaving back packs on the floor and taking off shoes, and has two cats and a dog who are not particularly friendly. Eventually, however, the two work on their connection. When Luna and her father plan a camping trip so that she can try to see a Luna moth in the forest, her father has a work commitment, so her grandmother steps in. Will Luna be able to see a Luna moth, and make peace with her new life in the DC area?
Good Points
Lloyd and Nutter's Allergic and Squished are super popular in my library because they deal with dogs and big families, respectively. The illustration style is similar to Raina Telgemeier's or Gale Galligan's in that it is bright, with clear, realistic cartoon style characters and well developed backgrounds. There is a realistic amount of drama; Luna misses her friends, wants to know more about the mother she never met, and wonders why she doesn't have a closer relationship with her grandmother. She doesn't have a particularly hard time at her new school, but does miss her friends. This will be a nice, light read for fans of graphic novels.

It wasn't really necessary to kill the mother off in order for Luna to bond with her grandmother. It is not stated in the text, but I wonder if part of the estrangement was because Luna's father is Black and the mother was white. Exploring that would have added some depth to an otherwise light plot. Of course, perhaps this isn't an issue as much as it was in 2008 when Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It was published.
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