Graphic Novel # 1 - To Dance by Siena Cherson Siegel

To Dance 

To Dance Trailer

Mary's Thoughts:

This book is about the Siena Cherson Siegel's childhood and her love of dance. She lives out her dreams when her parents take her to New York to audition at the American School of Ballet. Siena is accepted to the school and the book details her experiences there. She has the opportunity to meet the famous ballet choreographer, George Balanchine, and Michel Baryshnikov, the leading male ballet dancer of this generation. Siena has an ankle injury when she is 18, which ends her ballet career, but she doesn't stop dreaming. She enrolls in college and later returns to dance, just for the love of it.  This book will be fascinating to those students who dream, as I once did, of becoming dancers when they grow up. 

Pixie's Thoughts:

Woof! I give this book 4 paws. It was better than I expected! It has lots of movement and action, which I like! If all the books are like this, I will be a happy camper! 

Classroom Applications:

• Students can work together to do shared research on the American School of Ballet using a wiki. (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.7)
• Teacher can place the following question on a book blog post for students to respond to: "What challenges does Siena face in the story? How does she respond to those challenges? (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.3)