Moon Dancer

This romantic adventure traces the discoveries of 16-year-old Mira when she joins her sister, college-student cousin and cousin's friend, Max, on a four-day hike researching rock paintings sketched in a pioneer woman's journal. Trekking through a Utah canyon with her three companions, Mira ponders the lives of those who once populated the area and feels an almost mystical connection to them as she reflects upon her own past. Although Rostkowski's (After the Dancing Days) most introspective passages are poetic and insightful, characterizations and some plot details are less than convincing (e.g., Mira's insistence on walking a mile and a half on a broken foot). The protagonist's infatuation with athletic, level-headed Max is all too predictable while her ambivalence toward family members (her flirtatious older sister, Jenny, and their mother, who seemingly ``ran away'' from home) lack development. Readers may feel that resolutions occur before conflicts are clearly established. Ages 12-up. (June)