The Dancing Tree

In the difficult time after her mother goes away, Zeenie comes to understand the significance of a huge old tree to her grandmother and the importance of memories for both of them

Grade 6-9-The year Zeenie is 12, her mother leaves home and her usually quiet grandmother tells her a strange story of gypsy princesses, wild dogs, and a dancing tree. Every generation of Zeenie's family is lonely and incomplete-her great-grandmother died young, her grandfather left town, and now her own mother is gone. Although the feeling of fragmentation is ever-present, the remaining relatives do love one another and their land. The dancing tree, a magical sycamore, is a unifying force in their lives, a Mother Earth figure that draws them together. The only things this short novel has in common with Ross's Harper 'N Moon (Atheneum, 1993) are the vivid descriptions and beautiful use of language; what it lacks is that book's compelling plot. However, teachers could use it as an example of illustrative, atmospheric writing. The spare, lyrical style is reminiscent of Cynthia Rylant's or Patricia MacLachlan's work, particularly Baby (Delacorte, 1993). Ross's story, however, is not as resonant as the best of those authors' novels.?Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5^-7. This brief, atmospheric novel focuses on a moment when 12-year-old Zeenie's mother has gone away "to find herself" and Zeenie's grandmother offers a story of comfort. The grandmother's tale, about gypsies dancing around the sycamore tree in the meadow, actually makes less of an impact than Zeenie's recollections of the tensions in her parents' relationship, which are conveyed with romantic sadness and delicacy. Ross also carefully sketches in the grandmother's awareness of her own daughter's unhappiness and Zeenie's grasp of her grandmother's wisdom. Mary Harris Veeder