- On Pointe
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On Pointe Author(s) Lorie Ann Grover Country United States Language English Genre(s) Children's Publisher Margaret K. McElderry Publication date May 25, 2004 Pages 320 pp ISBN 9780689865251 OCLC Number 52386493 LC Classification PZ7.G9305 On 2004 On Pointe is a children's novel written by Lorie Ann Grover, published in 2004.
It was nominated for the 2006 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award.[1]
Plot summary
The story involves a girl named Clare who dances. Her best friend is Rosella. Her family's dream is for Clare to be in City Ballet, a program for very skilled dancers. There are only 16 positions in City Ballet. Things take a turn for the worse when her instructor tells her she's too tall, not only to be in City Ballet (although if she weren't as tall, she would have named it in), but to be in her own dance school! She is very upset at this. She is invited to dance with the adult class, where the adults dance, just to dance, but thinks the adult class is stupid. When her grandfather has a stroke, he loses the ability to talk and move his right side. When Clare finally steps up to take the adult class, everything changes.
Reception
School Library Journal said that the novel was "finely written", and commented of the main character that "the teen's voice rings true".[2] Publishers Weekly described it as "well-wrought" with "an air of authenticity".[3] Booklist was less positive, feeling that the grandfather's stroke was "perhaps overly convenient" and that the "shift in focus from ballet-studio pressures to family dynamics feels a bit jarring".[2] Kirkus Reviews said that the protagonist was "almost too good to be true, but she'll appeal to teens interested in dance".[3]
References
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