Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Hardcover, 458 pages

Published October 13th 2011 by Viking Juvenile 

 

When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she's deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem's muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she's chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? This debut novel in verse is as intense and romantic as it is eloquent.

This novel is written in verse which is what initially appealed to me (plus, Ellen Hopkins has a quote on it so... you know!), however, I was not as blown away as I thought I would be. I probably hyped myself up too much though. Sara is a small town girl who moves into the big city to follow her dream and definitely learns more about herself than she ever intended to. The plot of the novel is beautiful and I found it true to how a teenager would seemingly react when faced with the challenges that Sara faces. The first person point of view definitely lent itself to be very poetic and beautiful in some places, but others just left me feeling unsatisfied. Overall, I did enjoy the read and will recommend it to some of my students. I can't imagine the boys liking a poetic book about a girl who dances... then again, they may surprise me! 

Happy reading!