Moon Dancer

by Margaret I. Rostkowski

Overview

While camping and exploring the remote canyons of southern Utah, fifteen-year-old Mira responds to their beauty and spiritual mystery and makes some surprising discoveries about herself. “Rostkowski’s romantic plot is nicely entwined with the story of a young woman’s growing awareness of self and of her connections to the archetypal feminine images she sees in the ancient art. Combining adventure, discovery, and first love, this well-written novel can serve as an excellent bridge between YA romance and mainstream adult fiction.”--Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152001940
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	06/01/1995
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	4.18(w) x 6.87(h) x (d)
Lexile:	790L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

Editorial Reviews

This romantic adventure traces the discoveries of 16-year-old Mira when she joins her sister, college-student cousin and cousin's friend, Max, on a four-day hike researching rock paintings sketched in a pioneer woman's journal. Trekking through a Utah canyon with her three companions, Mira ponders the lives of those who once populated the area and feels an almost mystical connection to them as she reflects upon her own past. Although Rostkowski's (After the Dancing Days) most introspective passages are poetic and insightful, characterizations and some plot details are less than convincing (e.g., Mira's insistence on walking a mile and a half on a broken foot). The protagonist's infatuation with athletic, level-headed Max is all too predictable while her ambivalence toward family members (her flirtatious older sister, Jenny, and their mother, who seemingly ``ran away'' from home) lack development. Readers may feel that resolutions occur before conflicts are clearly established. Ages 12-up. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Mira has always been in awe of her beautiful sister, Jenny, until their backpacking trip to the canyons of rural Utah with two of their peers. They are following the trail of a reclusive pioneer woman who spent much of her lifetime documenting the Indian wall art they are trying to locate. While Jenny constantly complains, Mira is intrigued by the wall art that they find and imagines what life must have been like for the Indians who lived there. Mira fantasizes about life for a woman living alone in the wilderness one hundred years ago. Reality interrupts her daydreaming when she finds herself alone in the moonlight with Max and realizes that she doesn't have to live her life in her sister's shadow. Steeped in Indian heritage, the plot moves along with adventure, romance, and a touch of danger as the four cope with the backpacking trip and each other.

The ALAN Review - Lois Buckman

As a refreshing twist, this teenage love story is actually the backdrop for a journey of discovery as a group of young adults search for the ceremonial rock paintings of the Hisatisinom, ancestors of the Hopi. Emily, the expedition's rigid and competent leader, is researching the discoveries of Kate Weston, who toured the canyons in the 19th century. Emily's cousins Mira and Jenny have joined the expedition, but Jenny isn't happy with the rugged life involved in hiking. Mira on the other hand becomes enthralled with the stunning images in the paintings. Mira's also fascinated by Emily's rock climbing guest, Max, and his respect for the earth and the Hisatisinom. The book ends with Mira's realization that the physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges of the trip have opened cultural, historical, and romantic doors she never wants to close.

Children's Literature - Alexandria LaFaye

Gr 6-9Miranda, 15, and her sister Jenny, 17, accompany their cousin Emily and her college friend Max on a backpacking trip to Southern Utah. Emily's project is to scour Katie's Gulch for the examples of Hisatsinom (Anasazi) rock art that a pioneer woman recorded in her journal. Miranda, the narrator, who's definitely on the shore of a brave new world, explores the landscape, her sexual longings, and powerful connections to the past. Jenny, who's gorgeous and knows it, clashes with Emily, who's all businessconfident, bossy, and effective. Max is the perfect image of a beautiful young manhe's full of possibility, and he and Mira become mirrors for one another. Rostkowski is wonderfully conscious of balance. Her style is friendly, frank, and light, but it's also spiritual, physical, and intense. She celebrates what is natural and joyful, but also accepts what is awkward and painful. Indeed, it's when Mira forgets her sense of balance and becomes consumed by desire that she slips and falls. And it's because she's grown in her understanding of herself that she knows exactly how to get up and keep going. The narrative is filled with that mixture of peace and heat and clarity and strangeness that hums in the air in Southern Utah. This coming-of-age novel is truly refreshingit's mystical, and yet it's down-to-earth at the same time.Vanessa Elder, School Library Journal

School Library Journal