Title: Bunheads
Author: Sophie Flack
Summary: Nineteen year-old Hannah is not a ballerina: That is the word used for the stars of the company, the ones who dance the best roles and live in the spotlight. She is a member of the corps, one of the many bunheads who work for the prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, hoping to be noticed and promoted. Her life seems glamorous but it is hard work: Exhausting rehearsals, repetitive performances, keeping a strict eye on her weight, warding off injury and coping with intense rivalries with the other dancers, even those she considers friends. Hannah left home at 14 to study in the city: This life is the only one she’s ever known or even considered.
Hannah barely has time to step outside the theatre, let alone have any kind of social life. When she meets Jacob, a cute musician who goes to NYU she begins to see that there just might be more to life than dancing. But when you are so close to achieving the dream you have dedicated your life to, how can you begin to even imagine a different path? Author Sophie Flack, a former dancer with the New York City Ballet, takes you backstage into a world very few ‘pedestrians’ get to see.
Who will like this book?: Budding dancers and other performing artists who are mature readers. Anyone who has ever dreamed of leaving home for school. Young athletes will find a lot to enjoy as well.
If you like this, read this: Various Positions by Martha Schabas. Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci. In the Wings: Behind the Scenes at the New York City Ballet by Kyle Froman. I Was a Dancer: A Memoir by Jacques D’Amboise.
Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian