After the Dancing Days

Is War A Thing To Be Forgotten?

That's what Annie's mother would like to do. She wants to forget the pain and heartache--and to keep it away from Annie, too. But Annie cannot forget the death of her favorite uncle, who was killed in France. She cannot forget Andrew, the angry young veteran she meets at the hospital where her father works. Can Annie find the courage to help Andrew? And will she ever be able to make sense of a war that took so much from so many?

Drawn to the Kansas hospital where her father cares for wounded World War One veterans, Annie meets Andrew, a disfigured young soldier. As Annie helps Andrew slowly adjust to his wounds, she also faces devastating truths about war and the complex world of adulthood. ‘A girl on the brink of womanhood comes to terms with the brutal aftereffects of war in an absorbing novel.’ ―BL.

Notable Children’s Books of 1986 (ALA)
1986 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
The USA Through Children's Books (ALSC)
1986 Children's Editors' Choices (BL)
1987 Children's Book Award (IRA)
Young Adult Choices for 1988 (IRA)
100 Favorite Paperbacks 1989 (IRA/CBC)
Notable 1986 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
1987 Teachers' Choices (NCTE)
1986 Golden Kite Award for Fiction (SCBW)
Judy Lopez Memorial Award Certificate of Merit
1986 Jefferson Cup Award Winner (Virginia Library Association)

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.