Bull Dancer
Barbara Korsness (Guest Reviewer - Jeanmarie Morelli)
2002 Publish America
ISBN: 1591294541
In 1938 BC Crete, Kira, a bull dancer, is injured in the ring & must return home.
To keep a promise she made to her dying father, she teams up with her brother Niko, to expand their family's merchant business. She & Niko venture to many ancient seaports as well as Egypt & Mesopotamia.
On one adventure Kira must find a man near the Dead Sea to deliver a mysterious book meant for him. Traveling on to Babylon, Kira and Niko buy a boat & sail to Ubar, a city in southern Arabia that produces the purest incense in the known world. It is worth more than gold. If they can establish a trade route from Ubar to the kingdoms of the north they will become rich.
Guest Reviewer Jeanmarie Morelli writes:
Bull Dancer's impulsive, big-hearted heroine leads an action-packed life, & will win the hearts of many young readers as well as be a source of inspiration for her courage, generosity & innovation.
We are introduced to 21 year-old Kira on the day when she throws herself in front of a raging bull to protect the life of another bull dancer. In the process Kira receives a gash from the bull's horns. Being injured & loosing blood is taboo for Bull Dancers. Her courageous act is not appreciated by the King, who banishes her from the Palace.
This young dancer has trained for her profession from the age of 15. She knows of nothing else. Along the way she has become a skilled horse woman, & a strong swimmer, strengths that will save her life in future adventures.
Not content to stay at home, she joins her brother who is the captain of a trading vessel. A few days out at sea, pirates block their passage, & Kira develops an innovative plan. The seasoned sailor follows his sister's advice & they out smart the pirates.
Again & again Kira plans important strategies & leads others through perilous adventures. all the time accompanied by her falcon who often comes to her aid.
In her native land of Crete, women have many rights including owning property. They experience freedoms unknown in other lands of the time. When her brother insists that she cover her body & veil her face before going out in public in one port, she responds by rolling her eyes toward heaven. “Another culture where the men think they are superior.” Page 144
The people of Crete worship a goddess. As she travels to exotic cultures Kira often asks people about the gods they worship. At one point she finds Abraham & learns of his one God. Later when asked about her own beliefs she says “I'm confused. Everywhere I go there are different gods demanding different honors. Some encourage feasting and that men take pleasures in life that hurt others, some demand human sacrifice. One god commands his worshipers to throw their infants into fire...Where I come from. we had no wars, no human sacrifice. We worship our mother goddess and involve bulls in our worship. I was a bull dancer, part of a religious ritual, but the reason I did it was for the fun and excitement.” Page 142. She claims to have no feelings toward her gods & continues, ‘El Shaddai (Abraham's god) holds my interest more than any of the gods of my land.' On her journey Kira seeks out followers of the one god.
Everywhere she goes, Kira is a champion for the underdog. In the process she upsets the balance of power. One of the characters in the story sums it up well:
“...Turning to her, eyes sparkling with humor, he continued. “ And, Kira, I hear you have made an impression on royalty again.” He then explains to his grandmother, “Kira has the talent to disrupt the royal families of each countries she visits.” He goes on to recount her adventures, including: how she is blamed for leading a princess astray, in another country she impersonated the princess of the land, & in a third she stole the King's slave. Page 173
Kira is invited to ride the Arabian horses that are bred in one region & gallops out into the desert. There she comes across “a large, strange, wounded animal.” Page 156
When she returns alone at night to help the creature she saves its life by killing an attacking wolf. She befriends the camel & adopts it. Although distant nomads are known to ride these “creatures of the devil”; the locals shun them, preferring to ride donkeys & horses. Kira comes up with ingenious plan to harness camels & let them carry her cargo, thus expanding the family trade route.
Everywhere she turns, this former bull dancer finds adventures that keep the reader turning pages. This compelling character will find her way into the hearts of young readers & those who are young at heart.
Bull Dancer is an enjoyable read. A map showing the ancient trade routes of the Mediterranean from Crete to Damascus to Egypt would have helped the reader follow Kira & her brother on their adventures.
More from Barbara Korsness: Ancient Fire
(04/13/02)
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