Books - To Dance: a Ballerina’s graphic novel by Siena Cherson Siegel with artwork by Mark Siegel

This is the story of Siena as she realises her childhood dream of becoming a ballerina. The story starts off in Puerto Rico with Siena as a 6 year old discovering about the world of dancing and then following Siena’s life as she decides that she wants to be a ballerina. The story then follows Siena as she pursues this dream to New York and onto the stage. The story also follows what is happening in Siena’s family life and how this affects her by spending more time working on her dancing.

The illustrations in the story draw the reader into Siena’s world. Through the graphic illustrations the story starts on the end pages of the book at both the beginning and the end. The words and the graphics work very well together and the story in an interesting insight into why people dedicate themselves to the world of dance. I found this story to be a great and enjoyable read but also one that makes the reader aware of what drives people to dedicate themselves to something like dance.

----reviewed by sarah