You've probably figured out by now that the title—Shooting the Moon—hints at TJ's favorite pastime: photography. He loves taking photos of… wait for it… the moon. Why? It has nooks and crannies up there that are super interesting to capture on film.
At first, Jamie doesn't get it. It's a big white ball in the sky. What's so cool about that? She'd rather see TJ's snaps of people since they are far more fascinating. After a while, though, Jamie takes up the torch for her brother with the whole moon thing. It's her way of keeping him alive after he goes missing in Vietnam. Check out what she says about the moon pictures at the end of the novel:
And when he came home, when the war was over, he would look at all the pictures I took of the moon while he was gone, one for every day, even on new-moon days, when the moon hung invisible in the sky, and he would stare at them for almost an hour until he finally said, You got all the ones I missed. But we didn't know that yet. (16.45).
It's only fitting that Jamie keeps her brother's fascination with the moon alive through photography. This allows him to see what he missed while he was a POW in Vietnam, plus TJ gets to see the moon's shadows through someone else's eyes—or should we say lens—for once. Naming the book only focuses our attention on this important symbol.
What's that? You didn't realize the moon was a symbol? Hop on over to the "Symbols" section, stat. We have a bit to say about photography over there, too.