To Dance

To Dance

Title: To Dance

Genre: Graphic Novel

Author: Siena Cherson Siegel

Illustrator: Mark Siegel

Awards: None

Age group: 8-13 year olds

I really enjoyed this book and the illustrations really do take the reader on the journey that this girl went through as a dancer.

Summary:

The main character, a young girl, lived in Puerto Rico and had always loved dancing, but the challenge began when she was told by a doctor that she had flat foot, which could not be cured, and her mom asked if dance would help and that’s how she started taking dance classes. Then, she got to see the Bolshoi Ballet perform, and after she saw that she knew she wanted to be a ballerina. She started going to more and more ballet classes and even got to perform in The Nutcracker. That summer she flew to New York for the American Ballet theatre summer program. Then she read the new book called A Very Young Dancer, which she read over and over. Then she watched a movie called The Children of Theatre Street, and it was about a ballet school in Russia, where dance was taken very seriously, and she wanted to be just like that. The next year she auditioned for The School of American Ballet and she made it, so her family moved to New York so that she could go to the school. The school was founded by George Balanchine, a man she had seen in the movie The Children of Theatre Street and he brought many teachers from Russia to teach. For each year in school they were to wear a colored leotard for which level you were in; she wore green. Then she got the good news that would soon be fitted for toe shoes, which she had been looking forward to for years. Though her dad kept having to go back to Puerto Rico for work, but he built her own barre with mirror which she loved. Then one day a list to who would be in the ballet was on the big doors at the school and she had found out she had made it. They began rehearsals for multiple ballets. Her brother came to visit, and then she began to notice her parents fighting but choose to ignore it. She began to love every kind of dance, and by now her feet were no longer flat. She began taking less regular school and more ballet school. Though at home mom and dad were divorcing and there was no peace at home, so she found dance class to be a get-away. Then she started partnering class, which was new because you had to dance with someone else, and she began to feel grown up because it was like all the things she had seen her favorite dancers doing. Then she found out Mister B had passed away and see was very sad about this loss. In the end, she stopped dancing because of a terrible ankle injury she had a year before; instead she went to college, which was different but good. A few years later, she did go back to the Barre because she still needed to dance, because dancing filled a space for her.

I believe I could use this book in my classroom because it could be a good introduction to what graphic novels are and how they can tell a story through pictures.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 3rd-7th grade. This book is not too hard to read and is separated into chapters that show the progress that she makes and certain points in time of her dancing career. I would recommend maybe older students for enjoying this book since it is more of a chapter book and does give a lot of information on ballet skills and vocabulary.

A way to use this book in the classroom is after reading this, the student will do an activity by trying to make their own sort-of short graphic novel over something they enjoy doing.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy