Synopsis
Miranda, an athletic fifteen-year-old, goes on a backpacking trip to look for Indian paintings in the canyons of southern Utah, where she feels a mystical connection to the women who were there before her
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About the Author
Margaret I. Rostkowski was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, and the University of Kansas. She is now a high-school teacher in Ogden, Utah. "I find that my students are deeply interested in the issues of war and peace and duty to country and where one finds true heroism," she writes. "This book grew out of those questions, many of which I haven't yet answered for myself."
After the Dancing Days won first place in the young-adult category (1983) and was awarded the publication prize (1985) in the Utah Original Writing Competition.
Ms. Rostkowski lives with her husband and son in Ogden, Utah.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9?Miranda, 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 business?confident, bossy, and effective. Max is the perfect image of a beautiful young man?he'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 refreshing?it's mystical, and yet it's down-to-earth at the same time.?Vanessa Elder, School Library Journal
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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