Books: Ballet books for Adults & Almost Adults?

[stitcher]

Does anyone remember a children's book (I thought it was by Noel Streatfield, but I could be wrong) about a little girl called Crystal, who was convinced (as was her typical "ballet Mum") that she was God's gift to ballet. However, her brother (Dion?) went along to class too and he was eventually accepted into the Royal Ballet School. I think Crystal came good too in the end after she learned the virtue of hard work! Ring a bell with anyone?

[minty]

the book is called Thursday's children by Rumer Godden and is the story of Doone Penny and his sister

[stitcher]

Thank you minty, I'll see if I can get hold of a copy.

[Guest Lori64]

As a child I loved the Sadlers Wells series by Lorna Hill and the Drina books by Jean Estoril. Recently, I came across another series by Lorna Hill starting with Dancing Peel - children's books, but still a great read!!

[kellyisthebestintheworld]

i know of one childrens series in the uk that i quite enjoyed

 

the series is titled

satin slippers

 

written by Elizabeth Bernard

 

Theres 11 or so books following one girl from joining SFBA right through

OH MY GOSH!!!! I've been looking for those for a long time! My sister used to do ballet and those were her favorite books! Now I'm doing ballet and we only ahve like 4 books of ballet at my high school. Any idea where I could find them?

[Diana180]

<i>White Swan, Black Swan</i> (mentioned by in two posts above) is by Adrienne Sharp. About half the stories are stories about great dancers and choreographers of the twentieth century, lightly fictionalized but accurate on gross biography, and the rest are pure fiction. <i>Dancer</i> by Colum McCann, based on the life of Nureyev, is another example of what I think of as ballet fanfic. There needs to be more of it.

[tu2sparkles]

does any1 know of some really good ballet novels?

 

I read 2 but i wouldn't really call them novels.1 was called ballet shoes and i thought it'd be really cheesy and little girl like since it was only $5 but it actually was really sweet and i like the old fashioned english they used.I also read 1 about the lives of 2 dancers trying to make it in company schools.i think it was called 2 dancers.not sure but it showed me how hard a time boys have in ballet companies. sometimes more than girls

[Skittl1321]

I don't know your age, but there is a series called "Royal Ballet School Diaries" for ages 9-12 that has gotten good reviews. I'm not sure if this is what you consider a novel, but the schools I teach in have moved from calling books "chapter books" to all fiction chapter books are called novels, so this might be what you are looking for. (When I was in school we reserved the title novel for classics)

 

Because you ask for novels, you probably aren't young but this post

http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=23920 has a huge list of young readers books about ballet.

[drives2much]

My daughter recently has read "On Pointe", a fiction novel, which she enjoyed. It is a quick read. The author is Lorie Ann Grover.

[team-green32]

I read a pretty good book called <i> Dancer</i>. That was a pretty good book.

[angel_lissa_91]

I read a book called A dance of sisters I really liked it..and A time for dancing is a more mature one (also really good)

 

Hope it helps!

[Guest littlepiggy333]

Dancing In Red Shoes Will Kill You

 

A Rose for Melinda(this one is sad)

 

Ribbons, although I've heard t's not very good, but I though I'd put it here anyway in case you're interested.

[kriskoekk]

One that I read a long time ago when I was in 5th or 6th grade (well, 12 years or so ago, but still a long time!) was called As The Waltz Was Ending. It was about a teenaged ballerina in Austria during WW2. I really loved it, though some of the subject matter is probably not appropriate for someone much younger than 13 or 14 now that I think about it--I was an advanced reader...

[dancelyssa]

For ages about 9-12, I think the Streatfield books are lovely. Here is a link to my post on them:

http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=24050

And also, the Royal Ballet School Diaries.

I read the Streatfield books at 7 but I always read ahead of my age.

For older dancers:

A Dance Of Sisters

On Pointe

Also, some biographies are very good. "Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal" is novel-like, but also a realistic portrayal of corps life at NYCB.

[Guest PointeBaby_x3]

I have read "On Pointe" also. I think it is good, i love to read in my spare time!