May 28, 2025 (Netflix Anime) - See the process behind the stunning animation of Moonrise, from storyboard to screen!
Moonrise by Sarah Crossan is a free-verse novel that tells the emotionally charged story of Joe, a teenager grappling with the impending execution of his older brother Ed, who has been on death row in Texas for ten years. Told entirely from Joe's perspective, the narrative unfolds as he travels alone from New York to Wakeling, Texas, to be near Ed in the final weeks of his life. The novel explores themes of family, forgiveness, injustice, and the emotional toll of capital punishment, all rendered in sparse but lyrical verse that intensifies the rawness of Joe’s experience. Joe reflects on their childhood together—the bond they shared, the struggles after their father left and their mother disappeared, and how Ed, once a protector, ended up accused of murdering a police officer in a case riddled with doubt and inequality.
As Joe spends time in the oppressive heat of Wakeling, he contends with bureaucratic barriers, strained conversations with Ed behind prison glass, and his own disbelief that the system will actually carry out the execution. The weight of time bears down on him, and the days grow heavier as the scheduled date draws near. Through it all, he recalls the small moments of love and pain that defined their broken but enduring family. The novel refuses to offer easy answers, and by the end, readers are left with the aching tension of a story where love and grief collide with a justice system that often feels impersonal and irreversible. Moonrise is both a condemnation of capital punishment and a moving portrait of a teenager forced to confront loss in its most harrowing form.
