Dreamer Ballerina

Never used or received item

It's 1959, South Carolina, and Casey, a fiesty, scrappy girl from a low-income family, was born to dance. She has read every book on ballet in the library, and tries to watch through the window of the local ballet school, which her widowed mother can't afford to send her to. Miss Priss, the daughter of the richest man in town, can afford all the ballet classes she wants, AND bullies Casey at school.Both girls want to attend a professional ballet school in New York City, and both audition on the same day. Casey gets told that as she has never been to a ballet class in her life, she doesn't qualify for a scholarship, but there's a new school down the road teaching this new-fangled thing called contemporary dance who might take her...A lot of dance school stories have paper-doll characters. This one doesn't; every person in it is very real, and Casey, the narrator, is incredibly real. Her caustic Southern drawl comes through on every page on how she regards every situation. It is still a problem to this day on how talented low-income children get access to the training and opportunities that they need; and Casey is an incredibly resourceful and independent heroine, taking nothing lying down, and never, ever giving up.Not a pink and sparkly story. Plenty of action and rivalry in it for non-dance enthusiasts. Reading level 9+ years. And it's so cool to see contemporary dance in a children's novel for once, not just ballet or musical theatre!

My daughter (then aged just over 8) borrowed this book from our local library. This was selected as bedtime reading for us both to share and to be honest when I glanced at the cover and name I groaned! I thought it would be filled with shallow girl characters with nothing but pretty clothes and prettier boys on their minds. HOW wrong I was - THANKFULLY. The other reviews describe the storyline so I won't repeat that, except to say that what struck me immediately was that the author was not dumbing the reader down. What a delight to find a book aimed at young girls that focuses on building strength of character, overcoming challenges and learning to understand oneself as well as ones friends. For dads out there, if you have a daughter you read to, buy/borrow this book. My daughter (now 10) has given copies to all of her friends since she first borrowed it from the library and has her own copy too, which we are now reading again for the umpteenth time. My husband had a turn reading a few chapters last night and was blown away, which is what reminded me that I've been meaning to write a review :-) Buy this book and even if your child is an independent reader I highly recommend settling in with her/him and enjoy the dance that is Dreamer Ballerina.

OK, so I'm not the target audience for this book (I'm a grown man for a start). However, as a primary school teacher, I bought it for the girls in my class to read. Intrigued by the rags-to-riches nature of the plot, I just thought I'd read a few pages. Then I read a few more. And a few more. Before I knew it, I found myself rattling through it and rooting for the heroine, Casey, as she taps and leaps her way towards the fulfilment of her dreams.I think that this is an exceptional debut novel - funny, punchy and with a memorable, feisty lead character who readers will love. I recommend this to any confident young readers, whether they are interested in dance or not, who like their books exciting and fast paced.

This is a curl-up-and-lose-yourself novel - Casey is feisty and often furious, and her passion for dance leaps off the page. But there are other stories - about her mother and grandmother, and her friends (and sometimes her enemies) - that intertwine with Casey's. The setting is that little bit different - small town America and New York City in the early 60s. It's an emotional rollercoaster, but never soppy. I laughed out loud, and I cried too... It works brilliantly for all the reasons that Billy Elliot and Hairspray work so well too - you can't help getting involved with the story and the characters. I'd recommend it for 10 years upwards.

Ballet Shoes was one of my favourite books as a child, so I was excited to read a new book billed as being 'in the spirit of Ballet Shoes'. I wasn't disappointed by this well-written first novel by Sarah Rubin. Casey Quinn thought she could never be a ballerina but her passion overcomes the problems she meets. This determined, believable and well-rounded character shows us how we can achieve the seemingly impossible - in her case, to dance in New Yorkt. Dreamer Ballerina is a feel-good story showing the importance of working hard for what we want and it will be enjoyed by girls of 10 and over.