Audition

Gr 8 Up—A Boston audition opens doors for Sara-the chance to study with a professional ballet company, attend a private high school, and dance before ecstatic audiences—a dream world away from her rural Vermont home. Now a rising junior, Sara is both scared and excited about her opportunity, wondering if she'll ever measure up to her fellow dancers. However, tendus, relevés, and piqué turns are not the only thing she learns there; she also is smitten by the attention of Remington, the lead male dancer and burgeoning choreographer who delights in both her artistry and her innocence. When the two become lovers, a relationship destined for failure, Sara begins to doubt everything about herself. Told through short vignettes (poemlike in their spare yet precise language), Sara's coming-of-age tale is one of passion and romance, colliding with her vision of whom she ultimately hopes to be. Her confused feelings are believably expressed, and her attitudes toward her friends and the adults in her life will ring true, especially to those readers who are also involved in the performing arts. While Sara's exposure to smoking, drinking, and sex, as well as her attempts to balance her newfound freedoms with her one-time innocence, are fairly predictable, her self-questioning is well handled, and she grows, both as a dancer and as a person, throughout the book. Kehoe's tale will appeal to teens yearning for a life on the stage and give them food for thought via an easy read.—Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, The Naples Players, FL