Acceptance into the City Ballet Company in Washington State is the entire focus of 16-year-old Clare’s life; in fact, she moves in with her grandfather over the summer to be near her ballet school. Blisters, bulimia, combinations of steps, and who’s getting fat are the sole topics of conversation at class. When Clare learns that she’s too tall for ballet, she’s crushed but not nearly as devastated as her mother, who has always referred to ballet as “our dream.” Clare and her mother do work through this mother/daughter issue quite neatly. Another story line involves Clare’s grandfather, who suffers a debilitating stroke. With the help of her grandfather’s attendant, Clare learns to love the joys of dance as opposed to the stress and pain of performance. Writing in free verse—often more like prose with line breaks—Grover explores the many unpleasant aspects of ballet and pays scant attention to current dancers, choreography, or music. Clare’s loving relationship with her grandfather and her ability to cope successfully with the end of her ballerina dreams make her almost too good to be true, but she’ll appeal to teens interested in dance. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-86525-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
There is something profoundly elemental going on in Smalls’s book: the capturing of a moment of unmediated joy. It’s not melodramatic, but just a Saturday in which an African-American father and son immerse themselves in each other’s company when the woman of the house is away. Putting first things first, they tidy up the house, with an unheralded sense of purpose motivating their actions: “Then we clean, clean, clean the windows,/wipe, wipe, wash them right./My dad shines in the windows’ light.” When their work is done, they head for the park for some batting practice, then to the movies where the boy gets to choose between films. After a snack, they work their way homeward, racing each other, doing a dance step or two, then “Dad takes my hand and slows down./I understand, and we slow down./It’s a long, long walk./We have a quiet talk and smile.” Smalls treats the material without pretense, leaving it guileless and thus accessible to readers. Hays’s artwork is wistful and idyllic, just as this day is for one small boy. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-316-79899-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Ramona returns (Ramona Forever, 1988, etc.), and she’s as feisty as ever, now nine-going-on-ten (or “zeroteen,” as she calls it). Her older sister Beezus is in high school, baby-sitting, getting her ears pierced, and going to her first dance, and now they have a younger baby sister, Roberta. Cleary picks up on all the details of fourth grade, from comparing hand calluses to the distribution of little plastic combs by the school photographer. This year Ramona is trying to improve her spelling, and Cleary is especially deft at limning the emotional nuances as Ramona fails and succeeds, goes from sad to happy, and from hurt to proud. The grand finale is Ramona’s birthday party in the park, complete with a cake frosted in whipped cream. Despite a brief mention of nose piercing, Cleary’s writing still reflects a secure middle-class family and untroubled school life, untouched by the classroom violence or the broken families of the 1990s. While her book doesn’t match what’s in the newspapers, it’s a timeless, serene alternative for children, especially those with less than happy realities. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 25, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-16816-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
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