Misty Copeland is the first African American woman to become a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. She won the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, which acknowledges outstanding talent in young artists. She has written several books, but this is only the second one aimed at younger children to my knowledge, the first being titled Firebird. The book is nicely illustrated by Fiadzigbey.
The book tells the apparently autobiographical story of a danseuse who yearns to be in the ballet Coppélia which draws on Pinocchio, in that it relates the story of a dollmaker who wishes to vivify his greatest creation. The dancer discovers the plot (not as benign as the one in Pinocchio, and tricks the toymaker by pretending to be the doll that comes to life. Misty really wants that role - that of Swanilda, but she's so new to ballet that she doubts she'll get it. This doesn't keep her from dancing her heart out and sure enough, she wins the confidence of their tutor and gets the role!
There could be rivalry and bitterness here, but it doesn't pan out that way. Instead, Misty makes friends and learns and helps teach in turn. I really enjoyed this story which I thought was educational, useful, and informative as well as artistic and pleasurable to read and to look at. I commend it.
