Dancing on the Edge [Hardcover]

Han Nolan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999 | Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up

Miracle McCloy comes from an unusual family: Her father, Dane is a prodigy who published his first book at age thirteen; her grandmother, Gigi, is clairvoyant; and her mother was dead when her "miracle" daughter was pulled from her womb. Having been raised according to a set of mystical rules and beliefs, Miracle is unable to cope in the real world. Lost in a desperate dance among lit candles, she sets herself afire and comes to in a hospital. There, a young psychiatrist helps her navigate her painful struggle to take charge of her life.

     Includes a reader's guide and an interview with the author.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Never before in the history of the National Book Award has an author been nominated two years in a row. Han Nolan was nominated in 1996 for Send Me Down a Miracle, and in 1997 Dancing on the Edge--a transcendent novel about a young woman trying to find the truth amidst the lies told by her family--won the National Book Award for young people's literature. Miracle was saved at birth from the belly of a dying woman--that sort of entry into the world is hard to live up to. Miracle has been struggling her whole life to become a prodigy like her writer father or to become gifted in the psychic arts like her grandmother. But when her father goes missing and her grandmother claims that he melted away, Miracle devotes all of her energies to bringing him back. Her efforts to reclaim her father are so sincere that she tries to melt herself in the fire made from a circle of candles. Never sparing humor, Han Nolan lets us meet this amazing young woman who wants so much to believe. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A mentally ill girl finds her way back to sanity in this 1997 National Book Award winner. PW found the first half "tedious and confusing" but redeemed by the "realistic and thought-provoking" conclusion. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Perfection Learning (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075695035X
• ISBN-13: 978-0756950354
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,721,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Birmingham, Alabama. When I was 9 months old my family moved to New York where I spent most of my childhood and teen years. When I was a toddler, I had white blond hair that stood straight up on my head. My family called me "Hoot" back then because that and my big eyes made me look like an owl. I couldn't pronounce my first and middle names, which were Helen Harris, so I said "Hannah Hollis". My family shortened this to a variety of nicknames: Hahn, Han Holl, Han, Hannie, and Hannie Bucket, which my husband later shortened to Hannie B. The neighborhood kids also called me Hahn. It is now pronounced, Han, and it rhymes with man.

I was very active as a child--I loved to jump on beds, do somersaults, handstands and flips on and off of sofas, climb trees and do different tricks on the monkey bars at the playground. I also liked my own thoughts best. In kindergarten, I paid no attention to my teacher. She told my mother that she thought I had a hearing problem. My parents had my hearing tested. My ears were fine. When my mother told me what the teacher had said I replied that I heard my teacher all right, it's just that she kept interrupting all my good thoughts!

I've loved stories for as long as I can remember. One of my favorite memories is of my father telling me bedtime stories, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, B'rer Rabbit, and stories from the Bible such as my favorite, Joseph and his Coat of Many Colors. I loved to make up my own stories too. I didn't write them down until I was a little older, but I sure loved to make them up.

One of my favorites books as a child was "Harriet the Spy". I wanted to be a spy, so I started spying on my family, especially my older sister. It turned out I was a terrible spy because I kept getting caught, but I kept a spy notebook, just like Harriet. I quickly gave up on the spying, but writing thoughts and stories in a notebook has been a habit for me ever since.

When I was ten, I saw the movie "The Sound of Music" and I fell in love with it. Back then if you wanted to see a movie more than once you had to go to the theater. We didn't have videos. I only saw it once but I had the record album with all the music on it and I learned every word of it. I made up dances to go with it and gave a performance for my family. My brothers and sisters laughed at me. My parents and grandmother applauded and told me I was wonderful. For years after seeing that movie I would lie awake nights remembering the story of the Sound Of Music and making up my own stories to go with it. Lying awake nights making up stories instead of sleeping is a habit I still have, as my husband can tell you.

My elementary school years were tough--I hated school. I wanted to be at home with my mother. I used to feel sick to my stomach every morning and my mother would let me stay home sometimes. We moved to Kentucky when I was in the fifth grade. I stayed home a lot that year and I missed so much school I had to repeat the grade to make up all the work I had missed. After that I didn't get sick to my stomach anymore.

I didn't do well in school until the sixth grade. That's the year I was given my first creative writing assignment. I had been writing stories at home for years and of course keeping a journal filled with more stories and poems and all those important thoughts I had. My homeroom/English teacher was very impressed by my writing and this made me feel smart. I decided to do well in school after that, and I did. But what if that teacher hadn't encouraged me?

When I was 13, my mother enrolled me in dance class. At first I felt like a big oaf--all the other kids were younger, or had been taking dance lessons for years, so I was behind. But I loved it, and I began to work at it all the time: stretching so I could do splits and high kicks and dancing around the house to music. Two years later I was invited to join the special master classes for the best students. All that hard work had paid off.

I loved dance--I continued lessons into high school, and then went to college and graduate school as a dance major. I went to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as an undergraduate, and went to Ohio State for my Masters degree.

So how did I end up as a writer?

I got married after Grad school and I soon realized that my dancing took up too much of the wrong time. When my husband was at work I was at home, and when he was home I was dancing. I didn't like that at all, even though my husband took a beginning ballet class just so he could spend time with me. I left dance and I decided to return to my first love, writing. Soon after that we adopted three children and I knew for sure that staying home and writing instead of dancing was the best decision for me.

As an adult I still love to spend time with my family and friends, and I love to read, run, hike, bike, swim, go to plays and concerts, travel, and of course, write.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second half is riveting, after a slow and weird start..., March 25, 2005

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dancing on the Edge (Paperback)

I am a 60-year old man with a 13-year-old daughter. She recommended this "young adult" novel to me. I just finished it, and I agree with the prior reviewer who said it is best for older teens and adults. The heroine, Miracle McCloy, tells us about her life, mostly from age ten to 14. Her mother is dead, her father is a burned-out literary prodigy, her grandma is a lying, fake psychic who is totally around the bend with her arrogant occult snobbery. Miracle is a lonely misfit who sees herself as a total loser. In her misery, she suffers accidental (?) burns and ends up in an adolescent treatment center for psychological problems. With the help of a caring psychiatrist, Miracle faces the unpleasant truths about her history and her relatives, and also manages to bring out the best in her disorganized Aunt. The psychic stuff is really heavy in the first half of the book, but as a former medium and spiritualist myself (briefly and many years ago) I can testify that I met a few people who were as nuts as Miracle's grandma Gigi. It may be unpleasant for many readers who are more traditional in their approach to religious questions, but it is not presented unrealistically. In the second half, when Miracle is "saved" it is not by a return to mainstream churches, but rather by the techniques of psychiatry and therapy. That in itself may also displease some readers, but again, it is presented realistically (I've been a domestic violence social worker for 20 years, so I have a bit of knowledge of that side of life as well.) I hope my daughter learned from reading this novel, which she liked, that her own family is not so terrible after all. The main character, poor Miracle, like many troubled kids, blames herself for all the bad in her life. That idea encompasses two errors which often have tragic results: on the one hand, it falsely attributes way too much power to children, and on the other, because everything is her fault, it leaves Miracle feeling "power-less, rather than power-ful." She becomes afraid to try to change things, because all the changes so far in her life were bad. I recommend it for kids 13 and older, especially those who feel like isolated outcasts with few talents, but the teen should also have a trusted adult read the book so they can discuss it later. My daughter closed the covers with a strong wish that the author would write a sequel, demonstrating how Miracle fares through her high school years. I had the same wish by the time I finished it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and moving, February 5, 2000

By 

"ratsgniregnil" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing on the Edge (Hardcover)

My grandparents gave me this book as an "unbirthday gift." I read it that night, staying up until 2 a.m. to finish. This book moved me to tears, with its tragic story of a teenage girl who has lost the identity that she feels she never had. Pulled living from the body of her dead mother, Miracle relies heavily on love from her grandmother, aunt, uncle, and most importantly, her father. After he disappears, her life is chewed up and spit back out at her feet. She is told, "If your mama was dead when you was born, then you was never born." She strongly questions her own existence. Miracle's grandfather signs her up for dance lessons, which she's always dreamed of. She throws herself so violently into her dancing that she ends up covered with bruises. For Miracle, a bruise is evidence that she exists. Later, she attempts to melt herself and seriously burns her legs. Peeling skin and pain are proof to her that she is real, that she was born. A struggle to cope with her history and her family force Miracle to grow up a lot in a very short period of time. Every teenager has to define her identity for herself. Miracle manages to do this, but her way is more violent and trying than most.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, and thrilling book!, March 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dancing on the Edge (Paperback)

This was an excellent book! I have now titled it my favorite, it's so good. I rented it from my school library, and finished it in a couple of weeks. I'm 14 years old, and this book is really good for those young adults. The characters are so real life, and so are the situations. It's about a young girl named Miracle who is confused and torn apart by her beliefs she was raised on, but has gut feelings that something is wrong, and must learn to find the truth to her past concerning her birth, and her mothers death. The character's reactions and feelings are so real with the actual thing, and the author brings you into the character's feelings. It has a lot to do with finding out who you are, which can get pretty tough in your adolescent years. I won't tell anything to ruin it for those who haven't read it. All I have to say is read it! Give it a try! What harm could it do? I guarantee you'll like it!