Customer Reviews

Tiny Dancer: The Incredible True Story of a Young Burn Victim's Journey from Afghanistan

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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This is not just the story of a burn victim, TINY DANCER is a story of Courage and Compassion; from the little Girl, to the Soldiers who help her, to the Doctors who care for her, to the Americans who embrace her! We truly are a nation with reverence for humanity. The way Anthony Flacco tells the story is not only true to the events, but his words will reach out from the pages and touch your heart. TINY DANCER is an INSPIRATIONAL STORY and a lesson for us all! A MUST READ!
All my Best to Zubaida, God Bless all those who assisted in her chance to continue her life, and THANK YOU ANTHONY for telling her story.

Zubaida's story is one of strength and faith with a little bit of miracle thrown in. Her strength to withstand excruciating pain, in the weeks and months following the accident and in the years since as she has endured countless medical procedures, is a powerful lesson how compelling the power to live can be.

Her father's faithfulness and tireless effots to save his little girl are testimony to a parent's unrelenting prayer that their child will have a full and happy life. For him to dedicate so much of his time and energy, and the family's resources to help his daughter (in a country that traditionally de-values girls) leaves me awe-struck.

Finally, placing that child in the loving and expertly-skilled hands of the Grossmans is proof enough to me that miracles do occur around us every day. Their dedication to this child and others like her leave me striving to do more with the talents and gifts God has entrusted to me.

God bless you all.

~t~

It's wonderful to read about the sunlight in our world full of shadows.

A gripping, heart-wrenching tale of the triumph of the human spirit over tragedy. After viewing the world through Zubaida's eyes, you'll never look at life the same way.

What an incredible story of real life perseverance through the life of this heroically strong willed child. In the world of problems and fighting, this is an amazing real life story about people from all around the world of different lifestyles and beliefs joining together for one little girl. That union has lead to changing so many lives and beliefs and has resulted in the beautiful must read of TINY DANCER. Read this book and share with your family and friends to uplift your spirits and life.

Thank you so much for the gift of "Tiny Dancer". What an absolutely amazing story of courage and human resiliance. I was thoroughly absorbed by the story which is so well written and totally gut wrenching. In these difficult times when we are so overwhelmed by "bad" news on a daily basis it was such a treat to read this inspirational story of hope and courage.

God bless Zubaida's "little cotton socks". It seems clear that destiny has something great in store for her and hopefully her life will have a wonderful positive impact on her country and the world in general.

Tony Baarda

I read the book in one evening...I couldn't put it down. Zubaida's story moved me to tears several times and also moved me to tell others about the book. Its amazing to me that the author, Anthony Flacco, could take on ONE girl's story and make the whole world care! Wow! "Tiny Dancer" is truly a triumph.

This is such an incredible story, so inspiring, that I gave away my copy of the book to a friend and bought another for me. I may have to pass this on and just keep buying the book. Not only is it a good story to begin with, but I like the way author Flacco tells the story. As I write this, we are staying with friends in San Antonio, Texas...after evacuating from Houston for hurricane Rita. Our home is on the water and may now exist after tomorrow. Hard to get too upset over that once you know Zubaida's story...

If TINY DANCER were only the story of a young Afghan girl who suffered horrific disfigurement, it's unlikely that I would be writing this review. There is no shortage of misery today, and to chronicle only a minute fraction of it would surpass the capacity of the world's library shelves. Even viewed through the insulating filter of news columns or TV bytes, the sheer volume of anguish out there is mercifully numbing-- that is, to the rest of us, if not to its victims.

But Anthony Flacco has done far more than write of the pain of Zubaida, a terribly burned and scarred young Afghan girl; instead, he has crafted an anthem for all who have seen life's cold cruelty and have wished for the power to allieviate even a bit of it.

TINY DANCER is deceptively straighforward. In its skillful narrative, what lesser books would have made the main storyline --that is, Zubaida's accident itself and the gift of hope proffered by generous American benefactor--becomes but a backstory. To be sure, it is a moving backstory: in this part of the story, TINY DANCER is notable in that it is less about affliction than it is about the triumph of compassion.

But Flacco takes the story beyone the "Lifetime Movie Of The Week" -version. Not satisfied with the cliche of a fast fadeout when the girl's hideous scars are erased by plastic surgery, he instead compels us to follow Zubaida's tale onward, even to her fight to reenter her former life in a Third World country.

I won't steal from you the satisfaction of the book's conclusion, or even of the sheer pleasure you will experience in reading TINY DANCER yourself. Suffice it to say that once you open this book, you will find your perceptions --indeed, likely yourSELF-- indelibly altered.

--Earl Merkel

Aside the main character, Zubaida's strength, this story is about the people who all make the right choices, sometimes against the rules, to help Zubaida heal and have different life from then on. This book with its positive message makes a great gift, to bring a few moments of happiness and contemplation into someones life. The author manages in the shortness of the book to portrait the many characters with enough depth and contradiction for the story not to be sappy. I have given a few copies to teenage girls with whom the story of a somewhat younger girl resonated. The message, that everyone in ones place has a choice to make a difference and that it matters to help that single person next to you is a powerful one that nowadays young people with material comforts abound often miss and crave.