How Wendy Redbird Dancing Survived the Dark Ages of Nought

by Lyn Fairchild Hawks

Overview

Everywhere Wendy Redbird Dancing goes, she's the weird girl with the Walkman, the hoodie, and the Michael Jackson obsession. Now that her wandering mom has uprooted them again, Wendy has to survive another new school and more bullies who don't like her looks.

But when Tanay reaches out, Wendy wonders if she's found a real friend. Plus Mom's charming new boyfriend, Shaye, isn't the usual sleaze; he's cool and knows retro music. So Wendy's hopes for a stable future soar.

As Shaye gains her trust, Wendy's crush ignites. When things take a terrible turn, she goes underground, waiting for the day she can escape to London for Jackson's final tour.

All seems lost when the King of Pop dies. But Wendy suddenly hears his ethereal voice, offering guidance and sending her west. Is St. Michael now the only one she can trust?

For fans of ALL THE RAGE, THE NOWHERE GIRLS, and THE UNRAVELING OF MERCY LOUIS comes a surreal journey through friendship and music with a melody that lingers long after the final note.

"The protagonist is really, tough, tender, and heart-wrenching." C. Hope Clark, author of Lowcountry Bribe

"A modern-day Antigone who finds herself in a drama not of her own making. Brutally lyrical storytelling." D.W. Frauenfelder, author of The Mirror and the Mage

"An incredible story of courage and survival." Gordon Jack, author of Your Own Worst Enemy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780988883727
Publisher:	Write Design, LLC
Publication date:	03/29/2013
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lyn Fairchild Hawks is the author of How Wendy Redbird Dancing Survived the Dark Ages of Nought, her debut novel in the Girls Outside series about gifted, weird, and wise young women. She is also author of The Flat and Weightless Tang-Filled Future, a collection of short stories.

A 2012 recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation grant, Lyn was also the 2011 James Jones First Novel Fellowship contest semifinalist. She is the author of Teaching Julius Caesar: A Differentiated Approach, and co-author of The Compassionate Classroom: Lessons that Nurture Wisdom and Empathy and Teaching Romeo and Juliet: A Differentiated Approach. A former high school educator, she currently designs curriculum and distance learning programs for gifted youth.

Editorial Reviews

05/04/2015
It’s 2009, and high school senior Wendy Redbird Dancing has just moved from California to a small North Carolina town, thanks to her hippie mother’s latest whim (i.e. love interest). Between her mixed ethnicity (her father was Zuni) and her Michael Jackson obsession, Wendy is a perennial outsider. Bullied by a classmate, she falls in with two African-American kids at school who see her sarcastic wit and M.J.-inspired wardrobe as signs of levelheadedness. Wendy’s primary sources of solace are a promised trip to see Michael Jackson in concert in London and the attention she receives from her mother’s new boyfriend, but when that attention turns sexual in nature, she faces a crisis. In her first novel, Hawks creates a complex and passionate renegade in Wendy. While a number of traumatizing events arrive in quick succession and threaten to overwhelm the plot (though upsetting to Wendy, Jackson’s death ends up getting lost in the shuffle), it remains a compassionate story about finding the right people (and music) when you don’t fit in. Ages 14–up. (BookLife)

Publishers Weekly