Dancing in the Dark
To Ditty Cohen, Judaism means the comfort of her large, loving family; the camaraderie inherent in her tight ultra-Orthodox community; and the beauty of ancient rituals. The secular world does capture her curiosity, though, and after she views The Nutcracker ballet on a forbidden television, her world changes in a moment. Transfixed, Ditty feels every emotion in the perfect, lithe moves of the dancers, and then, incredibly, she finds the opportunity to study ballet herself, although she keeps her lessons a complete secret from her family. Readers know from the prologue that Ditty will ultimately be forced to choose between her family and ballet, and many teens from all backgrounds will recognize the family conflicts and the pull of a forbidden passion. For more about teens growing up in close-knit Jewish communities, pair this with Deborah Heiligman’s Intentions (2012), Eishes Chayil’s Hush (2010), and Leanne Lieberman’s Gravity (2008). Grades 7-11, --Diane Colson