Taking Flight

The prose here is pretty straightforward; the story is extremely inspirational and makes me feel like a garbage person who has accomplished nothing with my life. The subtitle “from war orphan to star ballerina” pretty much says it all.

I'm definitely planning to booktalk this to junior high kids; I think it'll be a great read for tweens & teens looking for a sad/inspiring story of a girl overcoming EXTREME hardships with EXTREME grace and poise. Also, kids interested in ballet/music, of course. Michaela also talks frankly about experiencing racism in the US but it's not her main focus... I kind of wished that she would talk more about it but I totally get her preference to focus more on the dancing.

Also apparently Michaela was featured in a documentary called First Position, which I now want to watch.