Tag: Dancing

Instructions for Dancing book held up to sky

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

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Book Genre Tag "Romance": A couple kissing

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This was such a great mixture of magical realism and romance. I loved how the magic fit into the character journey of Evie, the main character. Her cynicism about lasting love impacts her in a magical way as she gains the ability to know the future of a relationship.

This story had moment of light-hearted fun, ones of great sadness, and ones filled with excitement and elation. I found myself invested in the entire journey, and I really appreciated the underlying message the author was trying to convey.

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Dancing dragon on stage

Dragons Don’t Dance Ballet by Jennifer Carson

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

This story, you guys, I was inspired by it! My kids adored it, but I did too! As a parent, I like it when a children’s book can be enjoyable for me to read, but I love it when I actually take something away from it!

Esmeralda Dragon works at the ballet company, running the spotlight for the dancers. Once the dancers go home though, she takes the stage and performs for no one but herself to the whistling of the janitor. When auditions open for the ballet company, the janitor encourages Esmeralda to audition. Everything goes a bit right, then a bit wrong for her, but at each juncture, she chooses to not give up. But, then she does give up, and she has a friend who reminds her not to.

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Ballet Orphans by Terez Mertes Rose

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

Did you know I used to dance? I was in ballet, tap, lyrical, jazz, and clogging, which is a story for another day. Reading this book was like a walk down memory lane, and I loved it! Ballet Orphans is the prequel to the Ballet Theatre Chronicles. If you haven’t read the others, I think this is a great place to start the series without feeling like you have missed anything.

This story focuses on April, a soloist at the New York American Ballet Theatre. After some tragic events in her life, she takes the offer to start dancing with the West Coast Ballet Theatre. I loved that this story had the main character moving from one coast to the other. There was a wonderful feeling of a restart with April moving so far away and taking a chance to dance with a new company.

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