Every so often you are lucky enough to find a work that will grab you on the first page, almost force you to keep the pages turning until the last word, and then be nice enough to stick with you long after the read is over. This is one of those rare and wonderful works! The first requirement for such a book is that the author must be a natural story teller. The second, the author must have a story to tell, and the third; the story must be filled with believable characters, ones that allow you to feel what they feel, see what they see and react as they might act. Dorraine Darden has more than fulfilled these requirements with Jack Rabbit Moon.

Simply and briefly, this is a story of a young eleven year old girl who has just about everything going against her, but has been blessed with an unconquerable spirit and a very quirky outlook on life. Marnie Evans is a child who is basically without love, and is by just about any definition, an abused child. Her family is almost completely dysfunctional as are many of the adults around her. She lives is poverty and is more or less forced to fend for her self. Marnie’s struggle to escape her situation and find love is the frame the story hangs upon.

This entire story is told through the eyes of three people, Marnie, the main character, a park ranger, Rick, and the ranger’s wife, Claire. The author has used a rather fascinating first person technique where she gives us the story through the eyes and words of these three people. This novel is populated with a number of strong and interesting characters and Ms. Darden has had the ability to develop each of these characters in a way that you feel you have actually met them, and indeed, are apart of some of their lives. The back drop of the story is Garner State Park, located in Texas. The author possesses the ability and skill to describe wilderness and outdoor surroundings in a manner which causes the reader to shut their eyes for a second and actually be there. Lest you feel this is a grim read, fear not. You will actually find you self chuckling throughout the entire read and sometimes even laughing out loud. Some of the one liners coming out of Marnie’s mouth are absolutely priceless. This is one spunky little girl, who has had to grow up quite quickly, and as I said before, has a pretty quirky outlook on life. Like our real lives, there is some sadness, some happiness and most of the time a mixture of both. This has all been wonderfully captured in this work. Ms. Darden apparently has a wonderful sense of humor and it shows. I am not sure where this author learned or acquired her writing skills, and developed her craft, but I must say that this is some of the best writing I have read in several years now.

On a personal note, I cannot believe that this book has not been picked up by some major publishing house. Some evaluators, some readers, at some publishing house somewhere, have really ripped their knickers letting this one get buy. There is no doubt in my mind that we will be seeing and reading a lot from this author in the future.

Recommend you put this one at the top of your “to be read list” and also recommend you buy an extra copy because when you loan your personal copy to a friend, you probably won’t get it back.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks ( )