Dancing in the Wings

I can't wait to gift this book. I'm making a vinyl t-shirt with a dance theme to gift with it for the child to wear while they read the book just for fun.

Great story, gorgeous pictures!

If you have a little one who loves ballet, then they'll love this story by Debbie Allen. The books navigates the life of a little ballerina who so desperately wants to be perfect in every aspect of her sport, but has to overcome her challenges. I don't want to give the whole story away, but the book is a very good tool to reinforce courage, determination and will power. A must read.

I highly recommend this book! I bought this for my daughter (and then for my two nieces for birthdays after because we loved it so much!) Even my 8 year old son laughed at some of the sayings in this book. The message of this story is moving. I got tears in my eyes when I read it for the first time with my kids. The point of the story is beautiful. I will be buying for gifts and birthdays from now on. Highly recommend. The illustrations are also beautiful.

I purchased this book for my 8 year old daughter. Wow!! It was so wonderfully written and beautifully illustrated. As she read it aloud, I became more and more interested in the story. Its funny and inspiring. We both enjoyed it. I'll be looking for books by this author. 👍🏼

My son bought me this book after I shared the stories of the challenges and my dreams to become a ballerina. Throughout his childhood, I shared the stories about my hometown in Central Illinois where the ballet schools did not accept little black girls. I checked out every Beginning Ballet book from the library bookmobile and taught myself the fundamentals of ballet. From there I used my imagination & creativity to choreograph dance pieces. My mother sacrificed to buy me hard-toed white satin pointe shoes when she saw how serious I was. Needless to say, I cried at receiving such a wonderful gift about a little black girl who was able to live my dream.

This book is an excellent book not only to give children the idea of achieving goals and accepting themselves......but the book reflects a young girl of color in the role of a training ballerina. I chose this book for my girls because it is important for girls to see strong, confident girls of color they can relate to. The pictures reflect their lives giving them something out of the ordinary white boys or girls as heroines of the story. Very refreshing and appropriate book. And for those who complain about any language used in the book.....shut it..... Step outside the finite lines of your white privilege works........kids are often sassy and snarly to one another......this character shows a true life depiction of any girl her age. Awesome realistic fiction choice for any curricula or reading program..

We love this story. It has a beautiful message about perseverance and determination and following your dreams. But I wish it didn't have so many negative comments about people's appearance. I understand that physical appearance can create limitations in dancing, but I wish there wasn't so much focus on it. Because it's such a great story, I can see myself reading this to my little ballerina many times and I don't want such negative words floating around in her mind. I also understand that kids can say mean things, but why in a book? And why does the main character get to be mean and still get her desire in the end? I teach my daughters that what you look like doesn't matter at all. It's who you are inside. So it really irritates me that this book focuses so much on everybody's negative physical appearance. I don't want to teach my girls that through books. They'll hear enough of it from the world. Overall, beautiful story. But very mean characters.

本当に素敵な絵本に出会うと、子供のように目を輝かせてワクワクしてしまいます。この絵本の紹介をkadir nelson（イラストレーター）のhpで観た時、まさに素敵な絵本に出会った時の症状になった私です！読みたい思いが抑えきれず即購入しましたが、期待を裏切らない素晴らしい作品でした。自分の欠点と思うことを視点を変えて見る時、それは素敵な個性となります。debbi allenのポジティヴなメッセージに本当に最高！と思わず言ってしまうkadir nelsonのイラストが生き生きとし、読む者の心を捉えてなりません。女の子に夢と希望と信じる力を与えてくれる一冊です。

This book is uplifting,motivational and inspirational.This story teaches young girls to believe in themselves and to persevere in difficult times.The illustrations are lovely my niece loves it.

My 3 year old really enjoys this books a great read for little black princess’s

Wonderful story. Enjoyable to read. Lots of positive messages. A tall beautiful girl is teased as she stands out because of her long legs & big feet. However she is able to use these features to make her stand out in a ballet competition. Great ending & beautifully illustrated. I was worried that it was a detailed story for school starters, but they loved it & couldn't wait for the next page. Amazing talented writer. I ll be looking for more books from her.

My daugther is happy with this book . She does ballet and could tell you all about the characters feels and expressed her emotions. It's nice see books that represents young black girls. It was easy for her to read because she loves to read and is 8 years old