Customer Reviews

A Dance of Sisters

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
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This book is about two sisters, Delia and her older sister Pearl. Their mother died when Pearl was very young. While Pearl is still having trouble dealing with the death of her mother, their father deals with it by avoiding talking about her, and Delia dives into ballet. Her new teacher is very strict and warns all her girls about being fat. While Delia gets better at dance, she also starts to starve herself and does nothing but dance. Pearl meanwhile withdraws from her family becoming rebellious and failing school. This story is as much about dance as it is about the survival of a broken family. This is a very good book that slightly older children will enjoy and even learn from. I recommend it to all who like books about ballet, dealing with family issues and growing into an adult.

"A Dance of Sisters" is a poignant look at one girl's somewhat estranged family and her newfound passion for ballet. After the death of their mother, two sisters become closer, with the younger sister looking up to her older sister more than words can express. Their father, though he loves his daughters, becomes more distant as he grieves for his wife, removes her pictures from the house walls, and throws himself into his thriving business.

Fast-forward years later: The younger sister, Delia, is in middle school. She's a good girl, but doesn't have any notable hobbies - except for dancing. Suddenly, the local mainstream dance school with its yearly corny recitals are not satisfying enough for her, and she decides to pursue ballet exclusively. She enrolls at a prestigious school taught by a Madame who strictly adheres to the classic type of ballet instruction. As Delia's love for ballet deepens, she starts having her own life - and her own secrets.

Meanwhile, Delia's older sister is getting kicked out of school after school due to her behavior. She is not a felon nor a threat to anyone, simply a free spirit who does not want to conform. She dresses in dark clothes that she reshapes and redesigns. She dyes her blonde hair black. She truly cares for her little sister, and still loves her father, but she too has distanced herself from her family, feeling as if she is the only one who truly remembers her mother. Sent off to a new school, she expects nothing, but surprises herself and everyone else when she ends up with a new interest - taming a horse that was said to be untameable.

I recommend this book to a wide audience. This book is not just about ballet, nor solely about parents and children grieving over a loss, but rather about honoring those memories while making new ones. Each character finds something he or she is passionate about. The dynamic between the characters is realistic and the plot is interesting and familiar without being cliché. You will root for this family to come back together, and you will want each person to become stronger in his or her own way.

This was a great book which shows what you may have to go through to become a top ballet dancer. It's about Pearl and Delia, two sisters who are very close. When they were very young, their mother died and left their dad to raise them. Pearl becomes a strange, eerie person who seems to think life would only be worth living if her mother was alive, so she gets sent to boarding school by her father. Delia, however, misses her sister very much, but has found her spot in the world of ballet dancing. She had been taking classes at the Elanova School of Ballet, a prestigous dance school. Soon after two months of dancing there Delia was picked to be taught by Madame Elanova, the head directer and teacher. Delia enjoys dancing, but it was taking a huge toll on her life. She lost too much weight, she got sick, and every spare moment she had was filled with dancing. She realizes at the end that she cannot put up with ballet and feels like she dosn't need it in her life. Read the book to find out what happens in the end!

I am a competitive ice skater and I found this book compellingly easy to relate to in terms of the commitment Delia takes on. Delia also challenges with eating disorders, her self-esteem, competition between ballet and friends, and her rebellious sister.

A Dance of Sisters

by Tracy Porter


A Dance Of Sisters is a book that's rich, exciting and powerful. In this book, Delia, a girl who only wishes to become a classical dancer , and her sister, a sad and energetic goth who's into witch craft and makeup, learn more about each other and how things happen in their torn and broken family. With their father working day and night, her sister is eventually sent to boarding school and their mother is dead. Delia, also known as Little Moon from her sisters terms, hardly finds time to talk or even be a normal girl. Delia now becoming unhealthy because her dancing is keeping her too thin she is now confused about who she is and how her life she is torn between fixing her grace in dance and fixing her family. Now that she knows more about how things used to be it makes it easier to figure out what happens now in her life.


This exciting book was difficult yet a good book for a little challenge, I read this when I was nine. It was so good that I was engaged every time I read and all I wanted to ever do was read more. I think Tracy Porter did a great job at balancing the reality and fantasy in this book for readers that dont't give up on a good book. If you think of reading this book, then all I can say is I give this book two thumbs up!

Elise T. Tucker

Very interesting. First of all I loved this book because though the issues between the family made up 45% of the book, the rest focused on ballet, and the main characters life (which is what I wanted). I was tired of buying ballet books that focused on the dancers "social" life and not enough of her "Ballet life." This one takes you into the classroom and gives you a small taste of how hard being a ballet dancer is. Russian style :)
They use a lot of ballet terminology and talk about the pressure of being thin. The only thing that's not Practical is that after Delia is diagnosed with Anorexia she is rather calm about it, Unaffected, and recovers in almost 2 months. Anorexia consumes your life and takes a lot of time to recover from, something that she seemed to just "snap out of."
Other than that it was a fairly good read. The ending was a little disappointing. You wanted Delia to rise out of her struggles and become the best to her full potential in dance. But all her hard works seems to be thrown to the side when she develops a new Dream to follow,other than ballet.
I still loved the main character (very lovable and innocent)over all and found this story to keep me entertained.

Hanna W. review of A Dance of Sisters by Tracey Porter, March 20, 2008.
This book takes place in a small town in Washington. The main character is Delia. She lives with her father and her sister. When she was fairly young, her mother passed away. Since then her sister, Pearl developed more and more problems at school. It got to the point that she was sent to a boarding school.
Delia is very interested in the study of ballet at a school named Elanova. During the time she spent at the school she was faced with many ups and downs. She met and became good friends with a girl named Claire Acton. During the Christmas performance, Claire and Delia shared a role. In the spring performance, they had to compete for a top role. Claire ends up receiving the role which causes Delia to become very depressed. She gets the feeling that she is overweight and becomes overly self- conscientious. She starts eating less and is rapidly losing weight. Her dad becomes very concerned and takes her to the doctor. The doctor puts her on restriction from school for three weeks and from ballet for one month. Over her break Delia gains most of her weight back, and when she returns to ballet she feels extremely ignored. The ignorance made her feel unwanted, and her thinking that she was overweight made her frustrated. To deal with her frustration, she becomes overwhelmed and decides to quit ballet. In the end, she completely overcomes her illness, and begins taking a new less stressful dance class.

This book is a beautiful story about ballet and the struggle to stay thin, but it also about Delia's broken family. If you are thinking about getting this book GET IT ON AMAZON NOW!!! I recently found out that this book has stopped being printed and you will be lucky to find it in a bookstore or even a library. Don't think you can find it somewhere else!!! Also amazon is selling it for a really low price. BEAUTIFUL STORY!!

This is the story of two sisters, Delia and Pearl. Their mother died when they were little and they are left to live with their father. Pearl is not coping well with the death of her mother especially since her father does not know how to communicate with her. She really needs to talk about her mother but there is no one to listen, Delia is too young to remember. Instead their father ships Pearl off to a boarding school.

Delia is dealing with her own problems. Her one true love is dancing and she got accepted into a prestigious dance school with a very strict Madame. Madame has rules about being too fat in her class so Delia does whatever is necessary to make sure she stays thin. Unfortunately she is not doing whatever is necessary to stay healthy.

This is a great book for young girls dealing with life and its twisty turns. It shows that things do not always happen as planned but sometimes that can be a great thing. There is always something that can be learned from any situation. You will cheer for this family and maybe even cry too as this family tries to sort out their differences.