SOLVED. Poor boy lives in dystopian USA and there’s a massive facility behind his street where they stage the moon landing using people on ropes and he sneaks in. Authorities find out and hurt/threaten his family. [s]

[Molly]

The book cover was a moon on a blue back ground and the title was in red and I’m pretty sure it had the word moon in it. I’m also pretty sure there was a character named Sam but I’m not 100% sure. I read it in 2015/2016 but I don’t know how new it was (wasn’t an old one or a classic, probably within 5-10 years of 2015) and it’s definitely a teen/ya book. The main character (I think Sam) is kind of poor and lives in a small house with his mum and I think he has a brother. He sneaks into this massive facility behind his street even though he’s told not to by the police etc and he doesn’t go alone (I think he goes with friends) and once they’re inside they get mistaken for workers and get put to work by the people in charge where they see people on ropes using their weight to lift a man on a stage who is walking ‘on the moon’. The facility is basically Area 51 even though it’s never explicitly said and they are staging the moon landing. I can’t remember much else but I know that the police go to his house (must have figured out he got in the facility or something) and he was hidden in a basement or something like that?? It’s really vague I know and I’m not even sure if I’ve hit the main points of the plot but I remember it being a good read when I was younger and can’t remember it’s name.

[Haleema]

was it a single book or a part of series?
xx

[Molly]

Yeah I’m pretty sure it was just a single book. If it’s part of a series, I haven’t read the others.

[Rosa]

Maggot Moon?

[Molly]

Maggot moon! That’s it thank you so much

[Rosa]

You're very welcome!