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The Crying Rocks
From Newbery Honor author Janet Taylor Lisle comes a lyrical story about one girl’s discovery of her startling past—and her search to understand her complicated present.
Joelle’s height and dark skin set her apart from everyone in Marshfield. It’s no secret that she’s adopted, but where is she from? Aunt Mary Louise says she came from Chicago on a freight train, but the story doesn’t sit right with Joelle. There’s something more. She feels it.
Carlos, the quiet boy in Joelle’s Spanish class, sees it. When he tells her that she looks like a girl in the town library’s old mural of Narragansett Indians, Joelle can’t help sneaking a look. She’s surprised by a flicker of recognition. And when Carlos tells her about the Crying Rocks, where the ghosts of Narragansett children are said to cry for their lost mothers, Joelle knows she must visit them.
When they finally set out through the forest, neither she nor Carlos anticipates the power of the ancient place, or the revelations to be found there—about the pasts they’ve both buried, and the discovery of a rare kind of courage that runs deep in Joelle’s family.
Joelle’s height and dark skin set her apart from everyone in Marshfield. It’s no secret that she’s adopted, but where is she from? Aunt Mary Louise says she came from Chicago on a freight train, but the story doesn’t sit right with Joelle. There’s something more. She feels it.
Carlos, the quiet boy in Joelle’s Spanish class, sees it. When he tells her that she looks like a girl in the town library’s old mural of Narragansett Indians, Joelle can’t help sneaking a look. She’s surprised by a flicker of recognition. And when Carlos tells her about the Crying Rocks, where the ghosts of Narragansett children are said to cry for their lost mothers, Joelle knows she must visit them.
When they finally set out through the forest, neither she nor Carlos anticipates the power of the ancient place, or the revelations to be found there—about the pasts they’ve both buried, and the discovery of a rare kind of courage that runs deep in Joelle’s family.
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2003
7 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
Janet Taylor Lisle
43 books50 followersJanet Taylor Lisle was born in Englewood, New Jersey, and grew up in Farmington, Connecticut, spending summers on the Rhode Island coast.The eldest child and only daughter of an advertising executive and an architect, she attended local schools and at fifteen entered The Ethel Walker School, a girl’s boarding school in Simsbury, Connecticut.
After graduation from Smith College, she joined VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). She lived and worked for the next several years in Atlanta, Georgia, organizing food-buying cooperatives in the city’s public housing projects, and teaching in an early-childcare center. She later enrolled in journalism courses at Georgia State University. This was the beginning of a reporting career that extended over the next ten years.
With the birth of her daughter, Lisle turned from journalism to writing projects she could accomplish at home. In 1984, The Dancing Cats of Appesap, her first novel for children, was published by Bradbury Press (Macmillan.) Subsequently, she has published sixteen other novels. Her fourth novel, Afternoon of the Elves (Orchard Books) won a 1990 Newbery Honor award and was adapted as a play by the Seattle Children’s Theater in 1993. It continues to be performed throughout the U.S. Theater productions of the story have also been mounted in Australia and The Netherlands.
Lisle’s novels for children have received Italy’s Premio Andersen Award, Holland’s Zilveren Griffel, and Notable and Best Book distinction from the American Library Association, among other honors. She lives with her husband, Richard Lisle, on the Rhode Island coast, the scene for Black Duck(2006), The Crying Rocks (2003) and The Art of Keeping Cool, which won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction in 2001.
After graduation from Smith College, she joined VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). She lived and worked for the next several years in Atlanta, Georgia, organizing food-buying cooperatives in the city’s public housing projects, and teaching in an early-childcare center. She later enrolled in journalism courses at Georgia State University. This was the beginning of a reporting career that extended over the next ten years.
With the birth of her daughter, Lisle turned from journalism to writing projects she could accomplish at home. In 1984, The Dancing Cats of Appesap, her first novel for children, was published by Bradbury Press (Macmillan.) Subsequently, she has published sixteen other novels. Her fourth novel, Afternoon of the Elves (Orchard Books) won a 1990 Newbery Honor award and was adapted as a play by the Seattle Children’s Theater in 1993. It continues to be performed throughout the U.S. Theater productions of the story have also been mounted in Australia and The Netherlands.
Lisle’s novels for children have received Italy’s Premio Andersen Award, Holland’s Zilveren Griffel, and Notable and Best Book distinction from the American Library Association, among other honors. She lives with her husband, Richard Lisle, on the Rhode Island coast, the scene for Black Duck(2006), The Crying Rocks (2003) and The Art of Keeping Cool, which won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
September 10, 2022
This book was good, just not my cup of tea. If you think you’d enjoy it then don’t let my rating stand in the way :)
May 15, 2020
Aunt Mary Louise deserved better
July 23, 2013
08 September 2003 THE CRYING ROCKS by Janet Taylor Lisle, Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, October 2003, ISBN 0-689-03014-2
" 'So tell me about these Indians who were supposedly around here,' she says, as if she's never heard of Indians before. Which is laughable. Half the names of places in Rhode Island are Native American. There are statues of Indians in the parks and plaques that tell where this treaty was signed or that attack happened. Everyone has heard of the Indians, they just don't think about them that much. Indians are ancient history here, like three hundred years ago or more."
"One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys."
I was a little kid on Long Island back in an era when in circle time songs you'd as easily count ten little Indians as you would count six little ducks or ten green and speckled frogs.
A few years further on, in the mid 1960s, I chose "The Indian Tribes of Paumanok" (a Native American name for Long Island) as the topic for a social studies report. And while this raised my 10 year-old state of consciousness a few notches, I still had a heck of a time envisioning the booming suburbs where I lived as having been a vast woodland sheltering those peoples.
In contrast, thirteen year old Joelle, the main character in THE CRYING ROCKS, has such an ability and inclination. In fact, she can sometimes imagine someone from the distant past following her. Joelle, who was adopted at five by "Aunt" Mary Louise and "Uncle" Vernon, has that hunger to know about her own roots. In sharp contrast to her "heavy and earthbound" adoptive parents, Joelle is such a tall and striking seventh grader that a group of little neighborhood girls worships her from a distance, imagines her to be royalty, and emulates her style. But it is clear to the reader that something awful must have happened to Joelle as a young child, since she cannot remember the mysterious and unspoken circumstances in which she came to be discovered at the railroad depot of the northwestern Rhode Island community where she has since lived.
" 'Back in the woods there's a place where they used to meet. A high council place. There are trails, too. You can tell they're old Indian paths because of how deep they're worn down. It would take hundreds of years of feet to wear down a path like that.'
" 'Hundreds of years of feet?' she says. 'Give me a break.'
" 'A thousand years, even. Some artifacts are that old and more. What's amazing is how their culture got wiped out when the white man came. Fifty years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the Narragansetts were all gone, thirty or forty-thousand people who lived right around here.'
" 'What happened?' Joelle asked in spite of herself.
" Carlos stares at her. 'Disease, first, then they were killed off. The last few were sold into slavery down in the West Indies. It's one of those histories people don't like to remember.'
" 'But you do?'
" 'I'm part Indian.'
" 'Really?'
"Carlos stands up straighter and looks at her defiantly, as if she might have a problem with this. She registers again his gray eyes, his brown hair, his long thin face. " 'You don't look--'
" 'Just a small part,' Carlos says quickly. 'Like about one sixteenth or something.' "
The innocent and tentative relationship that develops between Carlos and Joelle--that of close friends whom the reader imagines/hopes will later become boyfriend and girlfriend--is impeccably drawn. Sometimes as if a pair of bumper cars, sometimes utterly in tune, the connection between these two kids who are finding themselves winds its way through the tension of the story to an absolutely fun and joyous scene where the two are dueling each other with quotes from their research.
THE CRYING ROCKS asks hard questions about the values and behavior of the Europeans who came to America as well as that of the Narragansetts who were there when the ships arrived. The author skillfully ties these questions to treatment of arguably "less fortunate" groups in twenty-first century society. Janet Taylor Lisle has an ability for crafting a story that is taut and powerful while maintaining the limits which allow for this story to be used in middle school classrooms. THE CRYING ROCKS will find a home in those classrooms and is a tale that will surely have readers thinking and asking about their own roots.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
" 'So tell me about these Indians who were supposedly around here,' she says, as if she's never heard of Indians before. Which is laughable. Half the names of places in Rhode Island are Native American. There are statues of Indians in the parks and plaques that tell where this treaty was signed or that attack happened. Everyone has heard of the Indians, they just don't think about them that much. Indians are ancient history here, like three hundred years ago or more."
"One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys."
I was a little kid on Long Island back in an era when in circle time songs you'd as easily count ten little Indians as you would count six little ducks or ten green and speckled frogs.
A few years further on, in the mid 1960s, I chose "The Indian Tribes of Paumanok" (a Native American name for Long Island) as the topic for a social studies report. And while this raised my 10 year-old state of consciousness a few notches, I still had a heck of a time envisioning the booming suburbs where I lived as having been a vast woodland sheltering those peoples.
In contrast, thirteen year old Joelle, the main character in THE CRYING ROCKS, has such an ability and inclination. In fact, she can sometimes imagine someone from the distant past following her. Joelle, who was adopted at five by "Aunt" Mary Louise and "Uncle" Vernon, has that hunger to know about her own roots. In sharp contrast to her "heavy and earthbound" adoptive parents, Joelle is such a tall and striking seventh grader that a group of little neighborhood girls worships her from a distance, imagines her to be royalty, and emulates her style. But it is clear to the reader that something awful must have happened to Joelle as a young child, since she cannot remember the mysterious and unspoken circumstances in which she came to be discovered at the railroad depot of the northwestern Rhode Island community where she has since lived.
" 'Back in the woods there's a place where they used to meet. A high council place. There are trails, too. You can tell they're old Indian paths because of how deep they're worn down. It would take hundreds of years of feet to wear down a path like that.'
" 'Hundreds of years of feet?' she says. 'Give me a break.'
" 'A thousand years, even. Some artifacts are that old and more. What's amazing is how their culture got wiped out when the white man came. Fifty years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the Narragansetts were all gone, thirty or forty-thousand people who lived right around here.'
" 'What happened?' Joelle asked in spite of herself.
" Carlos stares at her. 'Disease, first, then they were killed off. The last few were sold into slavery down in the West Indies. It's one of those histories people don't like to remember.'
" 'But you do?'
" 'I'm part Indian.'
" 'Really?'
"Carlos stands up straighter and looks at her defiantly, as if she might have a problem with this. She registers again his gray eyes, his brown hair, his long thin face. " 'You don't look--'
" 'Just a small part,' Carlos says quickly. 'Like about one sixteenth or something.' "
The innocent and tentative relationship that develops between Carlos and Joelle--that of close friends whom the reader imagines/hopes will later become boyfriend and girlfriend--is impeccably drawn. Sometimes as if a pair of bumper cars, sometimes utterly in tune, the connection between these two kids who are finding themselves winds its way through the tension of the story to an absolutely fun and joyous scene where the two are dueling each other with quotes from their research.
THE CRYING ROCKS asks hard questions about the values and behavior of the Europeans who came to America as well as that of the Narragansetts who were there when the ships arrived. The author skillfully ties these questions to treatment of arguably "less fortunate" groups in twenty-first century society. Janet Taylor Lisle has an ability for crafting a story that is taut and powerful while maintaining the limits which allow for this story to be used in middle school classrooms. THE CRYING ROCKS will find a home in those classrooms and is a tale that will surely have readers thinking and asking about their own roots.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
May 31, 2008
Themes: identity, loss, memory, forgiveness, bullying, friendship. I picked this one up as I was shelving books. I like native american storylines and the cover mentioned this in the synopsis. It is a very readable story about Joelle, adopted daughter of a married couple who seem more like loving caretakers than adoptive parents that have made their adopted child 'their child.' Joelle comes to begin a friendship with Carlos, another outsider who shares certain facts about the landscape that include 'the crying rocks,' a local spot said to be haunted by the ghosts of Narragansetts, a local native american peoples. Carlos points out the local library has a picture of these characters and when Joelle brings herself to take a look at the painting, she begins to have 'memories.' It's kind of a cross between flashbacks and collective memory. Carlos has his own family sadness, too. Joelle is also a big friend to Mista, a little girl who looks up to Joelle as a princess. Joelle's parents, Aunt Mary and Vernon, talk of her coming to them in vague pictures and make a point silently to Joelle not to ask too many questions. The story is a juxtaposition between real, memory and a collective consciousness of a long gone people. The author's characterizations, physical descriptions of people and places, and most especially her ability to create real conversations among the characters is exceptional. Highly recommended as a good, quiet and deep read for teens who question who they are or feel that something is missing in their lives because they are adopted. A gentle yet powerful tale.
January 12, 2021
I have mixed feelings about this book. The main character Joelle was adopted, she didn’t fit in with her parents simply because of the color of her skin and height. Origins of her past are a mystery that only Vernon (her adoptive father) knows and only until an unexpected event happens, was he able to speak up. Joelle and her good friend Carlos are curious about an old legend on some crying rocks, leading them to explore and read on about the Narragansett Indians territories. Eventually Joelle is told where she came from and unfolds the answers to all of her doubts.
The reason I gave it 4 stars was because it did take me a long time to actually get into it, it started getting interesting more towards the end. It seem that all the events were crammed up in the last few chapters and the beginning of the story just went on. Another reason is Joelle, the way the author portrayed her was a mean, rude, loud mouth girl, everything one said she talked back. Even with the explanation of how she became to be that way I felt she could have been made with a better attitude. However, I did like the story behind where she came from the author slowly explained some facts about the crying rocks giving a good explanation as to why her mom took action. The history on the Narragansett Indians was told briefly but came out to be a good story.
The reason I gave it 4 stars was because it did take me a long time to actually get into it, it started getting interesting more towards the end. It seem that all the events were crammed up in the last few chapters and the beginning of the story just went on. Another reason is Joelle, the way the author portrayed her was a mean, rude, loud mouth girl, everything one said she talked back. Even with the explanation of how she became to be that way I felt she could have been made with a better attitude. However, I did like the story behind where she came from the author slowly explained some facts about the crying rocks giving a good explanation as to why her mom took action. The history on the Narragansett Indians was told briefly but came out to be a good story.
August 18, 2020
The Crying Rocks is about at 13 year old girl named Joelle who is discovering her past and ancestry. I was initially intrigued by the blurb; however, the book left me with a lot of confusion. I felt that narrative was lacking character development/emotion, and I was unsure of the plot structure. The author did a good job though of capturing pre-teen hormonal mood swings! The biggest thing that really gets to me is the relationships Joelle has...or rather does not have. She has zero friends, and considering she was 13 and living here for 8 years was confusing. Why hadn't Carlos, her friend in the novel, show up earlier? I also didn't understand why certain characters were included in the narrative.
August 28, 2017
Much like the other reviews, I absolutely couldn't stand the main character at first. She's bitchy, bratty, and downright rude as a defense mechanism to anyone that's kind to her. And, while she grows and develops out of that as a character as the book goes on, it was still kind of hard to get through. Other than that it was a pretty good read! Very heartbreaking and heartwarming at different points and the author did a good job of not shying away from the true, accurate history, even the "White People Did Bad Stuff" parts. It had a really nice spiritual element to it, too. I would definitely recommend this as a good, quick read.
October 7, 2019
A story unfolding about a girl who is trying to figure out who she really is, from her past, to the adoptive parents she so loves today. I love how Joelle doesn't let people phase her - she holds her head high and is proud of who she is, even though she doesn't know herself. Only when she is face to face with a mural of Native Americans from her area, does she begin to wonder and question the past she must face. She has a few conflicts along the way that she must learn to navigate.
This was a quick read for me, however, it kept me very interested in the story. I will recommend it to students. (Upper Elementary to Middle School)
This was a quick read for me, however, it kept me very interested in the story. I will recommend it to students. (Upper Elementary to Middle School)
September 11, 2020
Racial jokes, slurs and stereotypes did not sit well with me at all.
Would not recommend.
The only good part of the book was the reveal after 3/4 of the book about how she got to live with Vernon and Aunt Mary Louise. Thats it. The rest is racial jokes about Native Americans and quotes from racist anthropological figures, promoting their views and stereotypes.
Would not recommend.
The only good part of the book was the reveal after 3/4 of the book about how she got to live with Vernon and Aunt Mary Louise. Thats it. The rest is racial jokes about Native Americans and quotes from racist anthropological figures, promoting their views and stereotypes.
October 31, 2021
3.5 stars
I like the concept of it, very interesting and it captured me from the start. I wish it was longer though since it really had potential. There were some parts that just really needed improving and it lacked depths in some certain topics too. It felt a bit rushed at the end though.. And I just needed to know more.
I like the concept of it, very interesting and it captured me from the start. I wish it was longer though since it really had potential. There were some parts that just really needed improving and it lacked depths in some certain topics too. It felt a bit rushed at the end though.. And I just needed to know more.
April 9, 2024
2.75 ⭐
I bought this book because the illustrated cover is gorgeous. I read this book to fulfill a prompt for a readathon. This book feels very much of its time. It reminds me of things I read in my 7th grade language arts class TBH. I think it would have been something I enjoyed if I had read it when I was 13.
I bought this book because the illustrated cover is gorgeous. I read this book to fulfill a prompt for a readathon. This book feels very much of its time. It reminds me of things I read in my 7th grade language arts class TBH. I think it would have been something I enjoyed if I had read it when I was 13.
Read
February 4, 2020hard to keep focus at the beginning but when the tough gets going the going gets good... lol what a play on words there.... really though if you can get through the rough beginning there's actually a really good story that awaits!
October 20, 2020
I really liked the idea of this, but in some way it simply fell flat. The mystery of the crying rocks and Joelle's past really gripped me. However Vernon absolutely made me hate the book. I hated him as a character and the choices he made.
January 20, 2023
Repeat with me: I need to stop buying books based on covers..
I didn't have to google it, something about this just screams "written by a white person".
By the end of it I just wanted to know what the hell is going on and this whole thing is just messy..
I didn't have to google it, something about this just screams "written by a white person".
By the end of it I just wanted to know what the hell is going on and this whole thing is just messy..
June 10, 2020
DNF. It wasn’t that it was superrr bad it just wasn’t interesting. Might pick it up again idkkk
June 30, 2020
It's the worst written of the middle grade books I've read lately, and the use of blood quanta/race related jokes and slurs did not sit well.
August 6, 2021
I do love this book. It is a great book and easy to understand. :)) I would love to recommend this book especially to beginner readers !
March 22, 2022
It was a pretty good book! I liked the fantastical type of style it was written in and I think it had very important lessons about our worth. But, it was aimed more to a younger crowd of readers.
December 1, 2022
This was fine. I’ll say it again. It felt like Anastasia mixed with Pocahontas. An old white lady wrote this and it feels kinda weird.
December 24, 2022
no amount of good faith can save this novel, with two leads of color, being written by a white person. even with the “oh it was a different time” argument, this was uncomfortable to read.
July 2, 2023
Fun YA that I read at age 30.
July 20, 2023
it is predictable.. that she's one of them ( yeah the main character is bitchy but huhu i really love how carlos handle her like his temper >>> idk i find them cote )
March 1, 2024
Her personality totally giving The Archer. Decent read btw.
December 20, 2022
*CONTAINS VERY PERSONAL OPINION*
Although not a bad book in idea and writing, I personally did not connect with the main character. And still while I enjoyed the book, I was frequently reminded of almost her unnecessary attitude towards the people trying to get close to her. While I understand her pain of not knowing who she was and feeling the pressure of peoples opinions pushed on you, Carlos seemed to genuinely care and I think it took Joelle way to long to realize that. When Carlos tried and tried to better their friendship it often left me feeling bad for not Joelle but Carlos instead.
So In conclusion, great book!! Obviously it’s a great book when I am writing s review arguing with a character!! Im glad I read it, not one of my favorites but still a good read! Lots of good plot twists and a great ending that left the reader wanting more. Definitely give it a read! Thank you Janet Taylor Lisle!
Although not a bad book in idea and writing, I personally did not connect with the main character. And still while I enjoyed the book, I was frequently reminded of almost her unnecessary attitude towards the people trying to get close to her. While I understand her pain of not knowing who she was and feeling the pressure of peoples opinions pushed on you, Carlos seemed to genuinely care and I think it took Joelle way to long to realize that. When Carlos tried and tried to better their friendship it often left me feeling bad for not Joelle but Carlos instead.
So In conclusion, great book!! Obviously it’s a great book when I am writing s review arguing with a character!! Im glad I read it, not one of my favorites but still a good read! Lots of good plot twists and a great ending that left the reader wanting more. Definitely give it a read! Thank you Janet Taylor Lisle!
March 30, 2024
Janet Taylor Lisle
The Crying Rocks
Atheneum
208 pages
7.0
The Crying Rocks
Atheneum
208 pages
7.0
February 11, 2016
This is the rather unusual story of Joelle, a young girl who is adopted and who has been told various stories about how she was found on a train.
She’s also very tall and as if she were part Native American, but no one seems to know or, if they do, they aren’t telling.
So it’s up to Joelle to try to find out the truth behind the various things that she has been told about herself. Carlos, a male friend of hers, helps her, especially by taking her on hikes to a Native American gathering place and a place called the Crying Rocks which may be the site where Native American children who were “defective” were left to die.
Finding out the truth behind everything isn’t going to be an easy task, and it’s not until woman who adopted her dies that things begin to start to come together rather quickly.
It’s not an earthshaking-type of story, but it is interesting.
She’s also very tall and as if she were part Native American, but no one seems to know or, if they do, they aren’t telling.
So it’s up to Joelle to try to find out the truth behind the various things that she has been told about herself. Carlos, a male friend of hers, helps her, especially by taking her on hikes to a Native American gathering place and a place called the Crying Rocks which may be the site where Native American children who were “defective” were left to die.
Finding out the truth behind everything isn’t going to be an easy task, and it’s not until woman who adopted her dies that things begin to start to come together rather quickly.
It’s not an earthshaking-type of story, but it is interesting.
January 2, 2012
I had a hard time getting into the author's writing style and liking her characters. I found the omniscient voice of the narration too jarring. Joell, while understandably hurt and tries to push people away, was kind of hard to like, and I almost gave up and put the book down. However, after about half way through I kind of end up liking her and the eccentric cast of characters in her life. The end of the book pulls together nicely and you end up seeing a little growth in all the characters. Just due to the content at the end, the book is more for high schoolers and not really appropriate for middle schoolers like I was hoping. However, it still a good read.
December 2, 2021
It feels reminiscent of "Bridge to Terabithia" merged with "Pocahontas". The characters are well-spoken and confident. Pacing was good, I felt shocked by the twists of the story. Though I zone off at too much details, it felt to me like there is some memorization quiz afterwards. And the mood in the dialogues seem to jump off. The story, however, is charming. Now it makes me believe this was written for audience much younger than my age.
Short and concise, it is deeply emotional and one filled with moral lessons and such.
Short and concise, it is deeply emotional and one filled with moral lessons and such.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews