A Time for Dancing

by Davida Wills Hurwin

Book Overview

Samantha and Juliana. Sam and Jules -- they've been best friends forever. Now, in the summer before their senior year, they're ready for whatevers coming.College? Professional dance careers? They'll share the triumphs and face the tears together. But neither of them are prepared for what does happen next. Jules is diagnosed with cancer. And there is no cure. "An unforgettable debut by a writer to watch.The novel is beautifully composed, with dialogue...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140386181
• ISBN13: 9780140386189
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.4" x 7.2"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Hurwin is a genious

I picked up this book at the library a few years ago, and I was hooked after only a few pages. Now, I have my own copy and have read it over a dozen times.This novel is about two high-school seniors, Samantha and Juliana (Sam and Jules). Their future holds great plans for college and dancing, but when Julie is diagnosed with cancer, their world is shattered. Both girls' lives change for the worse as they try to cope with all that Julie goes through.Hurwin is an excellent writer, and I cry every time I read the ending. The characters are so well-formed that I often must remind myself that they are only fictional. As I am a junior in high school, I can relate to almost every scene. I recommend this book for anyone in grades 6-12 looking for an awesome read to remember.

tear jerker

I bought this book for my 14 year old, because she loves dancing and she heard about it and wanted it. I picked it up to have a look and I just cried straight through the last 2/3 of the book. I had to skim some of it (it is a teenage read), but it's really quite good. There's a nice play back and forth between best friends: one lovely girl with cancer, and another equally lovely girl without cancer. The first has a very creditable relationship with her mother and family (a big part of the cry) and the other has an absolutely awful mother and an absent father. Both of their lives trickle down the drain pretty realistically during a relentless year of chemotherapy. Altogether well done - though I didn't appreciate the insensitive woman doctor - no pediatric cancer doctor could possibly be that hard-edged.I think of my daughter sitting in her big chair and reading this book in one sitting, thinking about her own friends, and dancing, and trying to figure out what cancer is and why people die, and crying. Of course, she's a girl, and she'll really love it. Big recommendation to all the soft-hearted teenage girls out there.

I could not stop crying

This is the story of two teenage girls, Sam and Jules who have grown inseparable over the years. When Jules discovers she has cancer, not only does her world turn upside down but so does her best friend's. Davida Hurwin takes you through a whirl of contradictory emotions; anger, sorrow and grief. I am a sophmore in high school and this was recommended as a quick and easy but wonderful read. It took me only about two hours to get through it. Captivating, I recommend this for all ages.

A wonderful book about life, love, and death.

Ever since my best friend's mother's death of cancer when I was five years old I have been facsinated with the subject. When I heard an excerpt of the book at a speech tournament I decided that I had to read it. It was a truly wonderful book. It dragged me in. I hardly could finish the book for fear that Jules wouldn't make it. I sat on the roof the last several chapters with tears streaming down my face. This is a truly inspirational book. Ms. Hurwin is a wonderful author.

This could possibly be the best book I've ever, ever read!

A Time for Dancing was so wonderful, I could not stop crying even after I finished, this book touched my heart not like any other has. I felt that I knew both girls and had a connection with them since I too take ballet and the strange thing is one of my dance teachers name is Linda and I have a good friend named Julie. This was a very hard book to read in the fact that you knew what was going to happen, but when and how it was going to end. I think Davida Wills Hurwin is one of the best authors I've read, thank you for writing and publishing this book, it truely was amazing and inspirational...I'm looking forward to sequal....I hope it is as good as this one.....I would totally thing everyone should read this book, it should be a novel for english classes everywhere...all I can say is WOW!!!!!