Every Time a Rainbow Dies

Williams-Garcia, Rita

ISBN 10: 0060292024 ISBN 13: 9780060292027

Publisher: Amistad, 2000

Synopsis

From Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia, Every Time a Rainbow Dies is a moving, lyrical, and diverse love story—perfect for fans of One Crazy Summer who are ready for an older voice.

Ever since he found her battered and raped in the alley near his home, Thulani hasn't been able to think about anything but Ysa. This is the first time since his mother died that he's given a thought to anything but the rock doves he keeps on the roof of his house in Brooklyn. Now that he has seen Ysa, Thulani finally has a reason to come down from the roof. But it's not so easy for him—especially when it seems that Ysa doesn't want him in her world at all.

About this title

Review:

In a love story that glows like the many-colored silk skirt that is its symbolic centerpiece, Rita Williams-Garcia takes her place as a major young-adult novelist. This book, with a strong lyrical voice, fulfills the promise the author showed in her widely acclaimed earlier novel, Like Sisters on the Homefront. With simplicity and a masterful control of pacing, Williams-Garcia builds a story that aches with the longing of two young lovers in a dance of tentative approach and defensive retreat, and eventual trust and healing.

Both Thulani and his girlfriend Ysa have an isolating spiritual wound. Ever since his mother suddenly returned to their Jamaican home to die four years ago, Thulani, 16, has withdrawn from the brother and sister-in-law who have raised him and who want to "man him up." Thulani spends long hours on the roof of their brownstone alone with his beloved doves, and school is to him "simply the sitting place." One day he hears a scream and looks over the parapet to see a young woman being raped in the alley below. He rescues her, covers her nakedness, and takes her home, although she fights him every step of the way. Later, fascinated by her proud rejection and grace, he begins to seek her out and follow her in her colorful clothes. "Every time you step out," he tells her, "a rainbow must die." At first she rejects him angrily because he has seen her shamed, but then she shares her name, Ysa, and her fierce ambition to become a textile designer. Little by little they begin to reach out (and then pull back again), to comfort and strengthen each other, and, finally, in a bittersweet ending, "to let go when it was time to let go." (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell

From the Back Cover:

He watched her. Her skirt billowed. Her hair was gathered on top of her head held high. Just as he remembered from those Wednesday on the roof. If she saw him and smiled, if she saw him and smiled.

Ever since the night he found her battered and raped in the alley near his home, Thulani has not been able to think about anything but Ysa.

This is the first time since his mother died that Thulani has given a thought to anything but the rock doves he keeps on the roof of his house in Brooklyn. With his father in Jamaica and his older brother and sister-in-law always wanting to "man him up," the only place he finds solace is near the sky with his birds.

Now that he has seen Ysa, Thulani finally has a reason to come down from the roof. But it's not as easy for him--especially when it seems that Ysa doesn't want him in her world at all.

In this provocative and poignant novel, award-winning author Rita Williams-Garcia celebrates the healing power of love.

About this edition

• Publisher: Amistad
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0060292024
• ISBN 13: 9780060292027
• Binding: Library Binding
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176