Spouses Siena and Mark Siegal, a manager for a ballet training program and an editor-illustrator, respectively, know how to put together a book for young readers: their new graphic novel is absolutely charming and inspiring. With beautiful prose and expert illustrations, they tell Siena’s story of growing up in Puerto Rico with a passion for movement. As a young girl, she runs and jumps on the beach and finds empty hallways that seem to call out to her to fill them with dance. After a move to New York City with her family, she takes up serious study at the School of American Ballet, and dance takes center stage in her life. She meets famous dancers and choreographers there, like Mikhail Baryshnikov and George Balanchine, but the most thrilling sections of the book come when she describes the beauty and power of ballet itself, as when she attends a breathless performance of "Giselle" and sees a star ballerina dance the title role of a doomed and broken-hearted ghost. In some passages, Mark Siegal’s illustrations carry the whole weight of the story, gracefully expressing young Siena’s quiet joy at moving through space. Their book is a love letter to dance, an accomplished graphic novel, and a candid look at the rigor and physical demands of ballet.

Review by Mark David Bradshaw, November 15, 2006