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Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Read to the Rhythm: Dancers in teen literature


Click here for a printable copy of the list.


Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela DePrince
TEEN BIOGRAPHY DEPRINCE
Michaela DePrince lived the first few years of her live in war-torn Sierra Leone until she was adopted by an American Family. Now seventeen, she is one of the premiere ballerinas in the United States.

Dancing in the Dark by Robin Bavati
TEEN BAVATI
RO TEEN BAVATI
Passionate about ballet, Ditty Cohen signs up for dance class despite being forbidden to by her Orthodox Jewish parents, then must face the consequences when the two worlds collide after five and a half years of study.

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black
TEEN BLACK
Fifteen-year-old Vanessa follows her sister Margaret to an elite Manhattan ballet school, not only gaining admission but also earning the lead in a production of The Firebird, while trying to uncover why and how Margaret and other lead dancers have disappeared.

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton
RO TEEN CHARAIPOTRA
Three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet academy compete for the status of prima ballerina, with each willing to sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.

Pointe by Brandy Colbert
TEEN COLBERT
Four years after Theo's best friend, Donovan, disappeared at age thirteen, he is found and brought home and Theo puts her health at risk as she decides whether to tell the truth about the abductor, knowing her revelation could end her life-long dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer.

Panic by Sharon Draper
TEEN DRAPER
As rehearsals begin for the ballet version of Peter Pan, the teenaged members of an Ohio dance troupe lose their focus when one of their own goes missing.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack
TEEN FLACK
Hannah Ward, nineteen, revels in the competition, intense rehearsals, and dazzling performances that come with being a member of Manhattan Ballet Company's corps de ballet, but after meeting handsome musician Jacob she begins to realize there could be more to her life.

Before You by Amber Hart
TEEN HART
Faith Watters has a picture-perfect life. She's captain of the dance team, popular, happy. She even spent her junior year traveling the world before returning to Oviedo High School for senior year. But she's living a lie. Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn't stand a chance of fitting in, and doesn't want to. His only concern is his secret past, a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him his life. Everyone knows that Faith and Diego don't belong together. But fate has its own plan. All they want is to be free. What they get is something different entirely.

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor
RO TEEN KANTOR
Zoe thought that being cut from her ballet program was the worst thing that could happen, but when her best friend Olivia is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, Zoe quickly learns that not being able to dance is the least of her problems.

Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem
RO TEEN KIEM
After a harrowing defection to the United States in 1982, Russian teenager Marya and her father settle in Brooklyn, where Marya is drawn into a web of intrigue involving her gift of foresight, her mother's disappearance, and a boy she cannot bring herself to trust.

Someday Dancer by Sarah Rubin
RO TEEN RUBIN
In South Carolina in 1959 Casey Quinn dreams of being a ballerina, and though she has never had the money for lessons, she follows her dream to New York City and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance.

Various Positions by Martha Schabas
RO TEEN SCHABAS
When talented, dedicated fourteen-year-old Georgia Slade becomes a student in an elite Toronto ballet academy, her confusing feelings toward one of her teachers lead to disaster.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
TEEN SUMA
Orianna and Violet are ballet dancers and best friends, but when the ballerinas who have been harassing Violet are murdered, Orianna is accused of the crime and sent to a juvenile detention center where she meets Amber and they experience supernatural events linking the girls together.