Graffiti Moon

In the young adult novel Graffiti Moon (2010), Australian author Cath Crowley follows a group of teens through a romantic adventure of self-discovery that takes place over a full day. As the three young women and three young men pair off, the main character discovers that the annoying guy she has been stuck with is actually the mysterious graffiti artist she has always wanted to meet. The narrative is told through three perspectives: those of the protagonist, the incognito graffiti artist, and their poet friend who documents his experiences in verse.

Lucy is in her last year of high school and is just starting to come into her own in terms of her artistic drive. Her passion is glassblowing, which she finds interesting because of the inherently unpredictable nature of the final product and because imperfections and cracks sometimes make glass artwork even more beautiful. In school, meanwhile, she has always been a little off-kilter, and she and her best friends, Jazz and Daisy, are proud not to “follow the rules of high school geography.”

Nevertheless, not everything is going great in Lucy’s life. Her mother, a novelist, and her father, a comedian and magician, have decided to split up. Her dad has moved out of the house and into the backyard shed while they wait for the divorce to finalize. Lucy’s feelings about this are complex: hurt and saddened by the family breakup, she also feels pressure to be “mature” and less emotional about it because she isn’t a little kid.



The novel opens on the last day of school. Daisy and Jazz want to hang out with Daisy’s boyfriend, Dylan, and Dylan’s friend Leo, whom Jazz happens to have a crush on. An aspiring actress, Jazz claims to be psychic, is often overly dramatic, and wants to experience a passionate kiss with Leo in order to have something to base her post-high school auditions on. Tagging along with Jazz and Daisy, Lucy is immediately stuck with Dylan and Leo’s annoying friend, Ed. Mortifyingly, Lucy and Ed already know each other: two years ago, they went on a disastrous date that ended when Ed patted her on the butt, and she reflexively elbowed him in the face, breaking his nose. A few weeks after that, Ed dropped out of school, and Lucy hasn’t seen him since.

For a while now, Lucy has been “in love” with Shadow, a graffiti artist whom she only knows from his work, which seems to speak directly to her innermost being. When Jazz and Daisy tease her about this obsession, Ed reveals that he not only knows who Shadow is but also knows where to find him. Thus begins a daylong odyssey through the city, as Ed takes Lucy to several places where she can see more of Shadow’s work.

Ed knows so much about Shadow because, secretly, he is Shadow—the artistic alter ego allows him to express the pain he has been experiencing in the recent past. Ed suffers from dyslexia, can’t read, and can barely write, which is why he dropped out of school. Now, he expresses his many ideas through his visual medium, sometimes accompanying his pictures with poetry that his friend Leo writes.



When Ed first dropped out of school, he found a job at an art supply store whose owner, Bert, was an amazing role model for the young man. Bert would not only give him life advice but would also critique his artwork. However, since Bert died from a heart attack, Ed has been at loose ends—and now, he and his mom are struggling to pay rent, cover the bills, and buy food.

Adding to all these burdens, Ed is worried because Leo has gotten himself in trouble. He would like to be a poet, but his family can’t pay for the private poetry writing class he had his heart set on. Instead, Leo borrowed $500 from Malcolm Dove, a local thug, who wants to be paid as quickly as possible. In order to help their friend, Ed and Dylan have planned a midnight heist—this night, after hanging out with girls, they plan to rob the art wing of the high school and pawn whatever they get.

As Ed shows Lucy more and more of Shadow’s work, she realizes that the graffiti exposes the artist’s inner life. The pictures explore dyslexia, which feels like closed doors that let in sound but not meaning; being poor, which feels like birds imprisoned in brick cages; and bereavement, which feels like a heart “rocked by earthquakes and disappointed seas.” Increasingly, Lucy connects with the emotional resonances of the art. At the same time, Ed takes great pains to hide the fact that he is Shadow, worried that his inner turmoil will turn Lucy off.



In the middle of their ride, they end up in a park, where they have a scary confrontation with Malcolm, who threatens them with a hammer, and pierces Ed’s ear with a geometry compass. Lucy rises to the occasion, punching Malcolm in the face so that they can get away, but in the process, Ed’s secret identity as Shadow is revealed.

Shocked, Lucy has to come to terms with the fact that Ed has been lying to her all night—and the fact that the talented artist is the same person as the annoying guy.

In the end, after everyone comes clean about everything—Leo about the poetry and the borrowed money, Ed about hiding Shadow from everyone, Lucy about being distraught about her parents—the novel provides each character with a happy ending. Leo clears his debt with Malcolm without needing to rob the school. Ed and Lucy admit their feelings for each other and eventually get jobs in the same art studio. Because he now has a job, Ed and his mom can once again pay their rent. Finally, Lucy’s parents decide not to get divorced, instead, going to couples counseling to try to make the marriage work.