Weeping Under This Same Moon

Weeping Under This Same Moon by Jana Laiz is a story of two girls from two different cultures whose paths cross and leave profound and indelible marks of love and friendship.

Gold Medal in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award for the best in Young Adult Fiction The International Reading Association IRA has named Weeping Under This Same Moon a Notable Book for 2009. Arts Reach Alliance - Valley Reads Selection for 2010 Weeping Under This Same Moon, by Jana Laiz is based on the true story of two teenage girls from different cultures, whose paths intertwine, dramatically altering the course of their lives. Mei is an artist whose life has been disrupted by the Vietnam War. Her anguished parents send her away on a perilous escape during the exodus of thousands of Vietnamese refugees known as "Boat People." In Mei's words we learn of the dangers she faces caring for her two younger siblings on a sea journey fraught with hunger, thirst and deprivation, leaving behind everything she loves, to find refuge for her family. Hannah is an angry seventeen-year-old American high school student. Friendless, neurotic, a social misfit - her passion for writing and the environment only intensify her outcast state. Through Hannah's voice, we get inside her head, there to discover a gentle soul beneath all the anger and turmoil. When Hannah learns of the plight of the "Boat People," she is moved to action. Destiny brings Mei and Hannah together in a celebration of cultures and language, food and friendship, and the ultimate rescue of both young women from their own despair. Weeping Under This Same Moon is a testament to the power of love and the spirit of volunteerism; affirming that doing for others does so much for one's self...

Jana Laiz has been writing for as long as she can remember. She wrote her first novel at age 6: Fuzzy Wuzzy Rabbit. She is the author of the triple Award Winning novel, Weeping Under This Same Moon, Elephants of the Tsunami, written to raise money for tsunami relief, and the co-author of "A Free Woman On God's Earth, The True Story of Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, The Slave Who Won Her Freedom". Fascinated by other cultures, Jana studied anthropology and Chinese language at University. She is passionate about our beautiful planet and endeavors to make a difference in the world and to work with others who feel the same. Her novel, The Twelfth Stone, a Celtic American faerie tale, adventure, romance, coming of age, environmental novel for adults and young adults is due out soon. She lives in a 200-year-old farmhouse in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.