Highland Fling - Hardcover

Ernst, Kathleen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812627423 ISBN 13: 9780812627428

Publisher: Cricket Books, 2006

Synopsis

A year ago, Tanya Zeshonski was living in Wisconsin, interning at the public television station, and eating Polish food on the holidays. Then her mother divorced her father, reclaimed her maiden name of MacDonald, and moved to North Carolina to submerge them all in their Scottish heritage. So now, at 15, Tanya is the oldest beginning student at the Flora MacDonald School of Highland Dance. Instead of pursuing her dream of being a filmmaker, she’s learning the Highland Fling, one of the national dances of Scotland. Learning it means a lot to her mother, though, so Tanya resigns herself to practicing for the biggest event of the summer, the Cross Creek Highland Games. At the games, Tanya must face not only the intricacies of the dance, but the complications brought on by a handsome bagpiper named Miguel, a ghostly ancestor, and the arrival of her father. Tanya’s sharp, funny voice rings true as she describes the delicate steps of the dance and the beginning of her new life.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 6-10–Tanya Zeshonski, 15, can't forgive her father, who divorced her mother and promptly remarried. She is also angry with her mother, who then moved Tanya and her younger sister, Nan, to Scotland County, NC, to be near other people of Scottish descent. Her mother, a genealogist who loves everything Scottish, wants her daughters to share this enthusiasm. Tanya and her sister take up Highland dancing, but only Nan has much interest in it. Tanya would rather spend her time making documentaries, and she finds everyone's love for Highland reenactments irritating. Toward the end of the book, she finally has a talk with her father and gets a fuller version of the reasons for the divorce, which enables her to forgive him. A friend, Miguel, helps her to be less critical of the people around her. Readers with a strong interest in Scottish history might be interested in this book, but those looking for an engaging story are unlikely to find enough here to keep them turning the pages.–Catherine Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Gr. 6-9. Can brooding, 15-year-old Tanya cope with her father's betrayal, her parents' divorce, and her grieving mother's search for her roots and deal with an ancient blood feud in a single weekend? Yes, she can. She can also meet a cute Puerto Rican boy who plays the bagpipes, dance an inspired Scottish sword dance, and begin filming a thoughtful documentary on North Carolina's Cross Creek Highland Games festival. Believable? Hardly. But readers will sympathize with Tanya as she negotiates her feelings of abandonment and loss of self while catering to her mother's need to rediscover her Scottish heritage. They'll also appreciate her grudging realization of her own cranky self-absorption, her ambivalence about the nature of the games, and her attempts to reconnect with her parents. What's more, even readers without Scottish ancestors will be fascinated by the history and lore Ernst deftly inserts into the story. Chris Sherman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Cricket Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0812627423
• ISBN 13: 9780812627428
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192