Good Moon Rising

by Nancy Garden

Overview

Lambda Literary Award winner Good Moon Rising is about two young women who fall in love while rehearsing a school play, realize they're gay, and resist a homophobic campaign against them. Good Moon Rising, both a New York Public Library Book for the Teenage and a Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, 'takes us into the dynamics of homophobia" (Horn Book). 'Garden, who gave us one of the first honest, sensitive portrayals of two young women in love in the brilliant Anne On My Mind, Farrar, 1982, offers us author thought-provoking story of homosexual love."-Voya

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780595347674
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	07/19/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.63(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

Editorial Reviews

A lesbian romance takes center stage as a high school mounts a production of The Crucible in this sensitive if not altogether convincing drama. Jan begins her senior year with her confidence primed from years of starring roles and a stint in summer stock; she is stunned when a new girl, Kerry, gets the lead in the play and she herself is made the assistant to Mrs. Nicholson, the drama teacher. Her anger and jealousy evaporate quickly as she and Kerry get to know each other and discover a powerful mutual attraction. And when Mrs. Nicholson withdraws due to grave illness, Jan realizes the teacher has been preparing her to step in as director. Trouble arises in the form of Kent, the male lead, who is unaccountably homophobic and who appropriates the anti-witch rhetoric of Crucible characters to start a campaign against Jan and Kerry. Garden's descriptions of teenagers confronting their gay sexuality are just as affecting and candid here as in her Annie on My Mind, but the book as a whole is less successful. The author takes shortcuts in characterizing the supporting cast, rendering them as fairly predictable types rather than individuals: the faithful friend, the quaint maiden aunt, the flamboyant retired actress. Kent in particular is underdeveloped; as a result, parallels between the hysterical witch-hunting of the play and Kent's anti-gay malice seem programmatic rather than provocative. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 8 UpJan is a high school senior, just back from summer stock and hoping for the role of Elizabeth in the school production of The Crucible. When a new student named Kerry gets the part, Jan's larger-than-life mentor, Mrs. Nicholson, assigns Jan to be stage manager instead. Then, as stand-in director when Mrs. Nicholson falls ill, Jan coaches Kerry. Eventually, the two realize that they are sexually attracted to one another. Other cast members notice, too. Some harass them, threatening the success of the play; others think it's nobody's business. Told in third-person narrative, this is a straightforward story of teen romance with a `90s twist. It gets off to a slow start, but tension builds as the young women receive increasingly disturbing hate messages. They finally "come out," affirming their feelings and undercutting the clique that had targeted them. Allusion to Salem witch hunts of the 17th century is obvious but effective, and the novel is well paced. Some may call this story a rehash of Garden's Annie on My Mind (Farrar, 1992), but it's more of an update. Although M.E. Kerr's Deliver Us from Evie (HarperCollins, 1994) is stronger, Good Moon Rising will find grateful readers among some of the same kids who appreciated that book.Claudia Morrow, Berkeley Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

Following a successful stint in summer stock, Jan fully expects her drama teacher, Mrs. Nicholson, to give her the best part in the school play, The Crucible. After auditions, however, a new girl gets the role. Hurt though she is, Jan admits that Kerry is perfect for the part and reluctantly accepts the job of stage manager. Jan works closely with all the cast members, including the arrogant male lead, Kent. She also coaches Kerry, finding herself more and more attracted to her. The feeling is reciprocal, and it isn't long before Jan and Kerry are in love, a fact they attempt to keep secret. Kent, however, who harbors a dislike of Jan, launches a vicious campaign of rumor and innuendo, first among the cast and then throughout the school. Meanwhile, Mrs. Nicholson succumbs by degrees to cancer, leaving Jan to direct the play, which further infuriates Kent. What opened as a tender tale becomes a story of the outrages heaped on any teenager suspected of being different, although Kent's deep, almost pathological hatred, chalked up much later to homophobia, is never adequately explained in the early pages. This is not Annie on My Mind (1982) revisited, but it covers similar territory.

Kirkus Reviews