Good Moon Rising [Hardcover]

Nancy Garden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

When the relationship between Jan and Kerry, a new student, goes beyond friendship and their romantic relationship is threatened with exposure, they must face a difficult decision that could change their lives forever.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind is the classic lesbian young adult novel. It is so truthful and honest, it has been banned from many school libraries and even publicly burned in Kansas City. Her newest novel, Good Moon Rising, is also about a young teenage lesbian and is as moving and startling as Annie. Jan and Kerry are two aspiring actresses in high school. When they begin working on a production of The Crucible -- not coincidentally about another kind of witchhunt -- they find that they are at the center of a social and academic controversy. As always, Garden understands the problems of young people, the prevalence of social homophobia, and pain of being an outcast. Good Moon Rising is mandatory reading for anyone interested in the problems faced by gay youth today, or for that matter, the problems faced by gay people everywhere.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up?Jan 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
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (J); 1st edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374327467
• ISBN-13: 978-0374327460
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nancy Garden's finest..., July 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Good Moon Rising (Hardcover)

Having heard so much about Nancy Garden, I ran right to the library and got Annie On My Mind. The book was wonderful and very educational about the emotional aspects of a young lesbian partnership. So naturally, when I heard about Good Moon Rising, I went to the library to get that as well. I finished it in a period of three hours, never putting it down once. This has to be one of the most well-written, true-to-life, amazing books I have ever read. It comes straight from the heart and, at some points, made me cry. As a fifteen-year-old lesbian, I can't even begin to say how much I relate to this story. Many thank-yous to Nancy Garden for her fine writing. I would recommend this book to anyone, gay or straight, to remind them of the powers of homophobia and how it affects the people on the receiving end of it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More of the same.., July 30, 2002

By 

Ash (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Moon Rising (Hardcover)

I'm not trying to bag on Nancy Garden or anything, because AOMM was one of the best books I've ever read. But Good Moon Rising just wasn't its own story. A light-haired girl falls in love with a sort of mysterious dark-haired girl, they have their little fantasy world, etc. I mean, their love was totally convincing and beautiful in AOMM, but in GMR it was kind of flat, as were most of the other characters, too; certain people were all goodness and kindness, and other people were one-dimensionally evil. Though the parallels with The Crucible were clever, this novel just doesn't cut it on its own.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as "Annie", May 21, 2003

By 

F. Mercer "bibliophile" (Phoenix, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Moon Rising (Hardcover)

But a worthwhile read. The harassment the girls experience because of their suspected relationship is realistic and heartbreaking. The bravery required to come out is heartening. This is a fine novel for both gay and straight teens to read to gain better understanding of the difficulties of being gay in America. We need more books like this!