Dancer

by Lorri Hewett

Book Overview

Stephanie's dedication to ballet is something few people can understand, yet when Miss Winnie, an older dancer with a famous reputation, comes to town, Stephanie begins to believe that her great... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525459685
• ISBN13: 9780525459682
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 7 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 2 and higher

Customer Reviews

Dancer-Danielle Ferris

Danielle FerrisEnglish Per. 5ADancer The book Dancer , written by Lorri Hewett, in my opinion was a great book! I think one of the main reasons why I liked it so much is because I am and dancer myself. That's not the only reason I thought it was so good though. It was also the author wrote the book and how it was about a girl who felt like an outcast and what it was like to do something different from everyone else and be completely different from most people. The book Dancer is about the main character Stephanie Haynes. Stephanie takes ballet classes everyday of the week. She takes it very seriously. She's also very good at it. Stephanie basically devotes her life to ballet. This book takes place in a small rich town called Cherry Hill in Colorado, in present times. The reason I know it was present times is because Stephanie and her friends do most of the same pastimes as teenagers now a days do. Stephanie goes to a private school on a scholarship. Her father is a janitor at the school. She doesn't have very many friends at school only one girl who she knows from dance class. She's sort of an outcast because she's really quiet and doesn't hang out with anyone at school and when she's not at school she's at ballet class. Stephanie likes ballet because it gives her something special that she does different from anyone and she's good at it too. Also at Stephanie's school there is the popular girls: Gillian, Lisa and Kelly. Gillian used to be like Stephanie. Her and Stephanie are probably the only black girls in the school but when Gillian moved there she hung out with the popular girls and ignores Stephanie. Stephanie kind of feels embarrassed when she's around the popular girls. Then one day she meets him, Vance. He starts taking classes at the dance academy. At first Stephanie doesn't really like him but when she gets to know him things sort of spark up. She starts hanging out with Vance more often. She also meets his Aunt Winnie. His Aunt Winnie used to be a dancer in Germany. Her dream was to be in the NYC ballet but at that time blacks weren't allowed to dance in NYC. Stephanie starts taking classes with Ms. Winnie on Sundays. Vance usually joins them. Ms. Winnie starts creating a dance between Vance and Stephanie. Ms. Winnie is sort of Stephanie's role model and inspiration. Stephanie and Vance start spending more time together and Stephanie gets aggravated because Vance won't open up to her and she's nearly in tears because of her parents. That's another thing Stephanie's parents don't understand how important dance is to her and her dad keeps pushing her to look at colleges and she gets in a lot of arguments with her parents. One day Stephanie is at school and she goes into the bathroom and hears some one coughing under the stall. She peeks under and sees that it's one of the popular girls. It turns out that she took a lot of her mom's pills the night before and was really sick. Stephanie helps her get help and get to a hospital. Then Steph

Despite day and age, Dance is still segregated

Set in Denver in the early 90's, Lori Hewitt's novel The Dancer is a touching love story, in which two African-American ballet dancers meet at a ballet class and fall in love. The main chararter, Stephanie, dances six days a week and loves every minute of it, but her parents think that it's just a hobby and that she should stop dancing so much and go to Stanford. They say this because they know that there aren't many black ballet dancers. Stephanie soon learns that there will always be someone better then you and that you should shoot for the stars no matter what. Stephanie has always been the best dancer in here studio and has been there a long time but is tossed to the side when a skinny white girl comes in and takes the dancer instructors eye. Stephanie is notice by a black dance instructor during class and is taken under her wing. Throughout the book she often goes to her house without her perants permission. Her parents aren't very supportive of this either and think she is spending too much time with her too. "Stephanie people just don't give dances lessons and not expect to be paid," Stephanie's mom often say this and Stphanie would reply, "Miss Winnie (her ballet teachers name) believes in me and thinks I'm talented, why can't you try to understand that?!" This book shows tells you that you should live your dreams and that there mayt be obsticles in the way but you should overcome them and love your dreams. I wouls defineately reccomend this book and I give it 5 stars.

the picture book w/o pictures

I really loved this book not just because I am a dancer but its a really good story line. The author paints a picture in ever scene so it's almost like your right there with the main characters. It was so real it had the same impact to me as a movie. After I read it I could remember scenes and relate it to my personal experience and it felt like a real movie!

One of the best books eva!

I loved this book! I seriously couldn't put it down! The story was superb, the characters were great and the way the author writes lets you picture everything going on!

Excellent

I love this book! Every ballet lover will too! The author portrays a very realistic look at the life of a teenager, the peer pressure, trying to be "cool" etc. Definitely a must-read!