I Am a Dancer (Young Dreamers)
Grade 4-7-Like the ballerina in Jill Krementz's A Very Young Dancer (Knopf, 1976; o.p.), 13-year-old Eva Lipman is the daughter of a former dancer and a student at the School of American Ballet in New York. While Krementz's book focuses on the dancer's experience in a particular performance, Feldman portrays Eva's everyday life, including her home, her family, and her friends. Readers will learn some behind-the-scenes details about how costumes are made and how dancers rehearse, but they will also see an ordinary teenager who wears braces and likes to shop. The full-color and black-and-white photographs of Eva with her parents and classmates capture the flavor of New York City, showing the girl shopping with her father and relaxing in her crowded studio apartment with her mother. Some of the photos, including several of Eva posing in Central Park wearing tutus that match the flowers, are almost too precious, contributing to the fairy-tale image of a ballerina, but Eva's first-person narrative also discusses the hard work and discipline involved in dancing. An attractive, up-to-date photo-essay that will appeal to budding dancers who want a glimpse of a real ballerina's life.Dawn Amsberry, formerly at Oakland Public Library, CACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.