Tracey Porter

I want to stretch to the moon, Delia thought. Far, far away. Twelve-year-old Delia Ferri doesn't remember her mother, or her family the way it used to be. All she knows is that her sister, Pearl, and her father are fighting more and more. Pearl is withdrawn and angry, so Delia vows not to give her father anything else to worry about. Delia loses herself to the rigorous world of ballet, and only when it has consumed her completely does she begin to understand how fiercely her sister had to fight for her own truth. Delia discovers that the bond between two sisters can't be broken -- no matter where the dance of life takes them.

A Dance of Sisters

While fighting to get Madame Elanova's approval for her dancing, Delia's life begins to fall apart as her focus on that one and only goal causes her to lose a grip on everything else, including her schoolwork and her health.

Hannah Yang

(Rating's more of a 3.5)

I like to think of myself as a dancer. I haven't been dancing for a long time but I love the art of it. Ballet is hardly my strong suit but I appreciate the grace, the beauty, the discipline and strength it requires. Since this book was about dancing and sisterhood, I knew I'd love it.

A Dance of Sisters is about Delia Ferri, a twelve year old ballet dancer. Dance is her everything, and her Russian teacher Madame Elanova sings praises about her. At home, though, her family life is strained. Ever since her mother (who she can't remember)'s death, her elder sister Pearl and her father have been tense. Pearl has become obsessed with witchcraft and all sorts of odd things, and is constantly getting into trouble. As Delia's ballet life starts to crumble her relationship with her family, causes her schoolwork to suffer, and leaves her constantly feeling lonely and worthless, she needs to take a step back and find out what she truly wants.

Delia was a likable main character for me. She may have come across as selfish or whiny at some points, but in some ways, I can very much relate to Delia. Though I adore everyone in my family, my sister and I are not always on the best terms and we question each other a lot (sorry, sis). And of course, the whole weight problem is present in all girls, dancers or not. 

I ached for Delia because as the book continued, the energy and love for dance I felt from her slowly disappeared. One of the strongest parts of this book is how alive Delia's changes felt: at the beginning, I can imagine her working hard in class, nailing the combinations. By the end, I felt heavy and sad, like I was lugging around Delia's pain as well.

The other characters were more secondary to me but they were all alright. While there were no supporting characters that completely blew me away, not a single one disappointed me either. The writing style is relatively simple and I assume A Dance of Sisters is aimed at a semi-middle grade audience. The writing flows quite well and I read through the book in just over an hour - it was a smooth, satisfying read.

Everything seems quite good so far, so why only 3 stars and not at least a 4? 

The plot itself lacked for me. Although there was a clear progression and the changes within each character were evident, I felt like the story would bring up a conflict and resolve it, bring up another conflict and resolve it, etc. - for the most part, it didn't feel like there were many different problems at once. There is nothing wrong with this, I just don't think it would hold the attention of every reader. I thought that A Dance of Sisters was a great story and a very pleasant read for me, but I'm certain others could feel bored.

One thing I will say is that it's disheartening at some points to read this book. As Madame criticized the girls, I felt myself thinking about my own flaws, and although it is powerful that a character can be brought to life so much, I think it could be slightly triggering or at least a bit sad for some people to read. I know that in the parts where Madame yelled at Cynthia, my heart dropped a bit because I understood how that felt. Even now I have the urge to run over to the barre and "vork even harder".

And further still, although I saw the damage it did to her, it broke my heart to see Delia quit. Although I'm quite certain I'll never quit dance, there are other things that I've loved but recognized took up too much of my time, energy, and were causing me to become more stressed and unhappy than they should have. It must have been so difficult for Delia to turn her back on something that she was great at, just because someone said she wasn't. Though she did not quit dance completely, she'll never forget ballet.

  The steps were simple, but they were difficult for Delia. She could not dance on the ground the way Meia Noite did. Her feet wanted to rise on half pointe, and her knees wanted to straighten. Ballet had trained her to pull out of the floor, as if she lived in the air instead of on the earth.

At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed A Dance of Sisters as a nice, quick read. I most likely won't re-read it, but I'd happily recommend it to the casual reader (particularly if you have an interest in dance). A lovely novel but certainly capable of causing a bit of heartache.

Elad Schulman

A Dance of Sisters is another one of those dance books 

Delia doesn't remember how her family used to be,with a sister addicted to witchcraft and always arguing with her father. The only time she feels special is when she is dancing in Elanova School of Dance. But when she starts to push away her friends and schoolwork, along with her weight dropping drastically, Delia understands how hard her sister, Pearl, had to fight to find her own truth. 

The only reason I REALLY enjoyed this book was because of the dancing parts. Other than Delia, I felt like a lot of the characters were in an elementary level. Her sister, Pearl had a lot of things that confused me. Also, the whole witchcraft thing wasn't thoroughly explained, so I didn't really understand that whole concept of the book.

However, I really enjoyed the whole part of Delia having problems with her weight. It really showed how many insecurities a dancer has, especially at such a young age, like 13. The only character I liked in the book was Delia. 

A good book if you enjoy dancing :)

A Dance of Sisters

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