Review: Dancing Queen by Marci Peschke

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Kylie Jean wants to dance the main role in Swan Lake. For ages 6-8.

Part of the Kylie Jean series. From dancing to spelling, third grader Kylie Jean wants to be the queen of everything! But in her quest to be the best, this young southern belle learns a few lessons of her own. Mischievous, delightful and fun, this series will be at the top of every young girl's list!

MY TAKE:

Despite the imagery that the title might evoke for those of us who grew up before the year 2000, this book is not about a young and sweet seventeen-year-old girl. Kylie Jean is a young girl who dreams of becoming a beauty queen. When her cousin Lucy tells her about auditions for Swan Lake, Kylie Jean adds a new dream to her list: swan queen.

While I'm not a fan of pink, which is Kylie Jean's favorite color, we did have a couple of things in common which made her very relatable and believable to me. One is her relationship with her best cousin Lucy. I also have a best cousin, and we practically grew up together. The other thing we have in common is ballet. As a kid, I studied ballet too. It's not as easy as it looks, but if you really love it, the occasional pain and fatigue is not a problem at all. The author was able to paint a very accurate portrait of what it's like for ballet students, and it sort of makes me want to try ballet again, but probably just for a day. :P

Thanks to NetGalley and Capstone for providing me with an e-copy. Publication date for the paperback edition of Dancing Queen is on February 1, 2012.

THE GOOD:

1. The illustrations. There's nothing spectacular about the illustrations, but it was perfect for the book. The drawings are also in black, white and pink, which highlights the fact that Kylie Jean's favorite color is pink.
   
2. The voice. She's much more girly than I was at that age, but I had no trouble believing that the story was narrated by a child.
3. Discussion points and recipe at the end of the book. You don't see these often in books these days, so they're a welcome addition.

THE BAD:

1. There were a couple of flashes of brattiness from Kylie Jean. Not a turn-off-worthy brattiness, just what you would expect from kids these days.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

I make sure my feet are in the correct position as I bend low. In my head, I'm thinking plie one, plie two, plie three.

READ IT IF:

1. You or your kids love ballet.
2. You or your daughter like the color pink.
3. You're looking for a fun, quick read.

RATING:

SOUNDS INTERESTING?