Dancing in the Rain

"That really sucks like a big mango".

Elizabeth and her Mami live in the Dominican Republic. Her Papi works in New York ...
in the Twin Towers. He loves his family - visits when he can - calls weekly and sends money home for his family.
It 'sucks' every time her Papi must go back to the United States. Saying goodbye brings headache, vomiting, and crying for Elizabeth.
"I'll call you every week and we'll talk about school, your friends, and your ....mermaids".

"That night, after we get a call from Papi saying he arrive safely in New York, I started having dreams. I dreamed I'm trapped in a box and I can't breathe. I wake up coughing and smelling smoke. The dream continues for several nights for Elizabeth.

Brant, And his older brother, Jarad, live in New York. His mother, Izzy is a lawyer. Their parents are divorce. On September 11, Brant was just starting 2nd grade. Jarad is in the 8th grade. They have family calling from the Republic Dominicana. Soon ...they are moving to "Mommy's Island" in the Caribbean.

"Two planes. They hit the building where Papi worked". He called to say goodbye- coughing - he could hardly talk.

Elizabeth says.....
"Right now I feel as if my tears are fake, as if missing Papi can't be compared to Mami's loss. So I keep quiet. But I miss him. I miss him all the time. I don't miss the money he sent every month that Mami used to buy us clothes, and shoes, and visits to the doctors and dentists and sometimes a movie in the new Playa Dorada cinema. Mami misses that. Or at least worries".
"What I miss most is Papi's weekly phone calls".

Any child who has lost a parent suddenly--- knows how Elizabeth feels. When my father died....( at 4 years of age)... I remember spending my growing years being quiet about missing my daddy. One time I mentioned to my mother how much I missed him --- her reply was "the loss was much bigger for me". So children keep quiet.

The rest of this story is beautiful ...
Elizabeth and Brant meet...( each family is dealing with grief). Both are now living in Dominica. They become friends... Elizabeth tells Brant ( who is younger) about the moon and mermaids. Brant tells Elizabeth about his brother, Jarad. She says ... with hands on hip: "I don't think I like your brother"
Brant says..."You have to like him, or else I can't like you". Elizabeth is shocked that Brant likes his brother after he told her that he yells at him just for tapping his feet. Jarad says...."My brother held my hand when The Towers fell down. He walked me home from school and didn't tell me to be quiet. And when we had to come to this Island to live with our grandfather, my brother tickled me and told me everything would be okay".

The story just begins.....it's a beautiful story on the island...with wonderful characters.

Heartbreaking .... Yet....so deeply tender ....the storytelling with so much love -you wish a young child ... maybe age 9 or 10... would snuggle next to you - so you could read it together.

I admire this type of story for young teens. I applaud the author, Lynn Joseph! Elizabeth is a very wise child - she has grief to work out....and is very creative in how she goes about it ... adding sprinkles of joy to others who are sad.

Thank You for this warm-tender-compassionate-pleasure-to-read' book,
Blue Moon Publishing, Netgalley, and Lynn Joseph

As this book is written from 2 children's PoV, this is a great book for children but can be appreciated by any age group. Although children weren't around to know the horror of 9/11, there have been other attacks around the world which they will be aware of.

I wasn't sure what to expect given the subject matter but the story is dealt with sensitively and realistically. As this is told by children, it is emotional but optimistic.

I’d like to Thank Netgallery for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for a honest Review.

I’m going to start by saying that I really liked this book and would greatly recommend it to anyone. I believe that this book is truly underrated and not well known enough. Dancing in the Rain is such a diverse read and also perfect for many age groups. It can be understood and read by children, because it’s an easy read, but it’s also something Young adults (like me) would enjoy for its meaning. This book was so heartbreaking, tragic and cute at the same time, a truly captivating mix.

Dancing in the rain is about two families torn apart by the collapse of the World Trade center at September 11th 2001. First off we have Elizabeth, a twelve year old girl. She lives in the Dominican Republic with her mother Mami and the half sister of her mother in a big green house neat the sea. Her father works in New York in one of the towers as a waiter. I really liked Elizabeth, she had such a rich imagination full of mermaids, dreams and other wonderful things. She also had such a bubbly, happy air around her and was a true sweetheart. She always misses her father dearly, especially since her relationship with her mother is not the best. I personally liked seeing the completely of the relationship with her Mami, because mostly even though they love each other, it seems like her mother cares more about her husband and is always very down when he’s not there. She’s only happy when he’s here and is mostly very harsh towards her daughter and makes her feel left out. The only time she really says “I love you” to Elizabeth is whenever her father comes home, which is not very often. I really felt for the girl, because she grows up with that kind of sorrow, especially later when her mother blames her for her father’s death and falls apart. Elizabeth doesn’t have anyone to grief with and I think that it’s a horrible thing of a mother to blame something like this on her daughter (saying that Elizabeth jinxed her father by saying that something terrible would happen), when it has been a terrorist attack, not related to Elizabeth at all. Yeah this really made me feel sick with hate for Mami, of course she was grieving, but trying to blame it on Liz was just plain cruel and false. The novel however shows very well how much 9/11 drags Mami down and everyone around with her.

The second family that is affected is Brandt’s family. He’s only eight years old and lives with his brother and mother in New York. Her mother is a lawyer and works in an office in one of the two buildings. She survives the attack, but is never the same, because of the things that she’s seen and the friends that she’s lost. Mommy - which is how Brandt calls her - lives in constant fear and memory of what happened and decides do leave New York behind to go to her birthplace, the Dominican Republic. She also did know Elizabeth’s father and has family of her own back there. Mommy’s situation is different from Mami’s in terms that she was in the attack herself and survived it, but maybe only with her body and not her mind. There’s also the dynamic in the family itself, because Brandt is Mommy’s favorite child, because he’s so easy going and a good boy, while she finds Jared too complicated. It was heartbreaking to see how she always scolded him and preferred her other boy. Jared was more of a person with walls around himself to protect himself and noticed so many things, when people usually thought that he didn’t notice. Mommy also always blamed him to being too complicated and wanted to fix him, while she was unable to see that it wasn’t Jared’s fault but her lack of understanding for him as well. Brandt personally liked his brother a great deal and considered him to be a very important part of his life. I really liked the boy, because he was so caring and also liked to look up words in his dictionary, so that he could understand what everyone meant.

What I found very astonishing was how the events of 9/11 and all the depression and sorrow and grief that happened afterwards was shown through the eyes of two children. It puts the tragic in another perspective and shows how children experienced it, not known what was going on, especially in Brandt’s case. He was so young and so confused. It was heartbreaking how he didn’t know what was happening, because he was so young and unassuming. However, everything that happened made him seem older, because he was confronted with all that sadness very early in his life, especially seeing his mother suffer so much and wanting nothing more than to help her. This is when he meets Elizabeth and becomes best friends with her. Both want their mothers to be happy again and try to cheer them up. I liked heir friendship a great deal, it was so heartfelt and real, Elizabeth finally had someone to help through this hard time and she also made friends with Brandt’s older brother Jared and felt at home their grandfather’s house. I think they gave so such to one another and made everything more bearable by sticking together and supporting each other, since they were in a very similar situation.

In general the book was so great, because it explained many important topics so well that even children can understand them. The story is short, the writing very light and easy to read, so that the novel is suitable for a wide variety of people. Dancing in the Rain talks not only about tragedy, but also about how to live with it for the rest of your life and still try to find the courage to build a new life and try to be happy again. It talks about how it’s okay to be happy in all the sadness and how you are not responsible for someone elses happiness. Just by trying to be happy yourself, you can cheer people up and give them new hope. That was a very important lesson for Liz and Brandt, ought bis hi grandfather, who was in a horrible situation as well (during the holocaust) and managed to get out, even when one of his brother’s couldn’t. In the end nether of the two children are responsible for the mothers happiness or have to fix them, but manage to cheer them up by being happy themselves. The novel also talks about how important family is and that you can love someone, but not understand them, that you can love someone, but are hurt by them. Not to mention that it also underlines that there’s your blood family and the family you choose and that the greatest gift is when you find someone that fits both.

This middle-grade book is set during the events of the September 11 attacks in New York and focuses on two different families and how they deal with the effect the attacks have on their families.

Elizabeth’s father and Brandt and Jared’s mother both work in the attacks and they end up meeting together in the Dominican Republic and realising they can help each other heal their families. This book is whimsical and a bit magical in places with dreamy writing and a childlike optimism that really seems to beam from the pages. I really enjoyed it. It was avery quick read and I read it in two short sittings but I was really invested in the story and I really connected with Elizabeth and Brandt in particular and just how lovely they were. I really wanted to hug them. Brandt’s reactions to his mom and brother Jared (who appears to be slightly on the autistic spectrum possibly) was really wonderful and it made me think of all the things children can probably see and understand around them that adults can’t.

I really loved the very last scene in the book. It really came alive for me and I actually felt a bit emotional at imagining everyone together, and beginning to heal and realising there were so many things life had to offer when you’re able to look past that grief. This book is about loss, grief, companionship and support and it’s really lovely and I definitely recommend it to everyone to read

I was looking forward to reading this having visited the Ground Zero memorial this summer but I was a little disappointed with it. The story traces the 2 families who get to know each other after being involved in the Sept 11th tragedy told through the eyes of 12 year old Elizabeth and 8 year old Brandt who has a 12 year old brother Jared with adhd. As the story progresses we discover that the grandfather of the boys was caught up in the Holocaust and was the only surviving member of his family. While this is all handled quite sensitive it's quite a lot to pack into such a short story. I also felt that the book was aimed at a much younger audience than the storyline and age of the Jared and Elizabeth would suggest. All in all it's good to see a well written book for younger children on this subject.