My name is Hannah Ward. Don't call me a ballerina. Hannah is a dancer - not a ballerina - with the Manhattan Ballet, one of the most prestigious companies in the countries. She's worked extremely hard to be where she is, and she works extremely hard to stay there. Dance is her life, and she's always been okay with that. But then things start happening that make her wonder if there should be more to life than dance. Can she balance being a dancer and having a life - or will one of those things have to give?
I know you can't judge a book by its cover, but I admit that one of the reasons I was so excited to read this book was because of its gorgeous cover. I hope that it's still the final cover when its published. I was also excited because I have long wanted a YA novel set in the dance world (I'm still waiting for one featuring ballroom dance). And with Black Swan recently drawing tons of attention for Natalie Portman's performance of a determined ballet dancer, this is an excellent time for a book like this. Truthfully, though, I think Bunheads is closer to Center Stage than Black Swan, and I am perfectly okay with that. I liked Hannah as a character and appreciated all of the details of a world that I know very little about (who knew how dancers hated parts of The Nutcracker?). I was concerned when it looked like Hannah was going to throw away her life's work for a guy, but by the end of the book all of Hannah's decisions seem to have come organically from a personal place. Author Sophie Flack has a background that mirrors Hannah's, and I am really intrigued to read more from her.
See more at Poppy.
Find it at IndieBound.
Read it with:
The Next Competitor by K.P. Kincaid
Ballroom! by Sharon Savoy
Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans
No comments:
Post a Comment