Reviews

The engaging voice of 16-year-old ballet dancer Kayla Callaway propels Cirrone's debut novel. Kayla is having trouble at the Florida Arts High School (aka Farts High). Not only has she been given a minor part in the school's ballet, but her teacher has also approached her about getting breast reduction surgery. And pairs of red pointe shoes have been appearing in the halls, the first of which had an ominous message attached: Dancing in red shoes will kill you. (Kayla is one of only three dancers wearing red shoes in the ballet.) The ballet metaphors run a little heavy in Kayla's narration (My stomach did a grande jetE) and it's hard to believe that the teen, a serious dance student, would be so shocked by her teacher's suggestion about the surgery. But Kayla, her gay best friend, Joey, and her fiery feminist sister make for likable characters, and the shoe mystery is well played, with several characters coming under suspicion. Readers may lose interest in the novel after they learn who and what was behind it, but ultimately the mystery and its resolution as well as Kayla's own soul-searching about her body raise thought-provoking questions about cultural expectations for girls and women. Ages 12-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Gr 7-10-Kayla, a talented ballet dancer, is a junior at Florida Arts High School (aka "Farts"). She's the sort of funny, generous person anyone would love to have for a best friend. But she has a big problem that is limiting the roles she is chosen for in school productions-her breasts are so large that they interfere with the visual composition of the performances. After Cinderella tryouts, when Kayla is selected to play one of the ugly stepsisters instead of the coveted starring role, a dance teacher gently takes her aside to commiserate and suggests that she consider breast-reduction surgery. The teen is appalled, and her feminist sister, Paterson, is even more offended. Almost immediately, the students polarize into two camps: those who would "Save the Hooters" (boys) vs. those who would "Reduce the Rack" (mainly girls). The appearance in the locker room of red ballet shoes with a death threat ("Dancing in red shoes will kill you," from a Margaret Atwood poem) initially energizes Kayla into sleuthing, and she discovers that the line was meant to be an artistic statement about society's negative messages to girls and women. A subplot involving Paterson's controversial senior art project is better developed and more integral to the novel than the mystery of the shoes. It's a shame that a predictable ending, in which Kayla realizes that she does not want to force herself into conventional roles, mars this appealing story. Nonetheless, Cirrone is an author to watch, and libraries with healthy budgets should consider this title.-Susan Riley, Mount Kisco Public Library, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.