cover image Drina #01: Ballet for Drina

Drina #01: Ballet for Drina

Jean Estoril. Scholastic, $2.75 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-590-42190-4

This first installment of the Drina series, a collection of books first published in England in 1957, expresses all the wistfulness and determination of a devoted balletomane as she struggles for her place at the barre and in the world of dance. From her earliest years, orphan Drina has loved movement and dance, but her grandmother-guardian has always discouraged her. When Drina enters a new school, and meets a girl named Jenny, her yearnings are more intense than ever. Jenny, who dislikes ballet, studies at the Selswick School, and only by lobbying hard does Drina, too, start lessons. By the time the story ends, readers learn the source of Drina's grandmother's hesitation, melodramatic and satisfying for all its incredibility. Drina's old-fashioned willfulness and her desire to dance will be joyfully embraced by ballet fans. Ages 8-12. (Dec.)