Welcome to another stop on the blog tour for Up to this Pointe by Jennifer Longo, author of Six Feet Over It.
The book follows the sometimes heart-breaking path of Harper Scott (of the Antarctic Scotts) from insanely hard-working ballerina student in San Francisco to Antarctica for Winter Over. Harper is in her senior year of high school still following The Plan that she and her best friend Kate created as very young ballet students - Ballet class, graduate early, ballet class, no boys, ballet class, eat almost nothing fun, more ballet class, audition for the San Francisco Ballet Company, become professional ballerinas, live together in their tiny apartment. Harper and Kate have lived and breathed this plan for ten years, never veering off course, until, of course, the course, the plan, and all the hard work becomes meaningless. Harper has to discover how to deal with loss and change, and maybe running away to Antarctica will be her answer.
Even though I know very little about ballet, and even less about Antarctica, I was mesmerized by the descriptions of Harper's Nutcracker and of the adelie penguins in their natural habitat. I found myself tearful as I read end of the book while sitting in the middle seat of an airplane, trying hard not to sniffle too loud for my neighbors a foot and a half away.
I heartily recommend this book for teens and older readers, yet I am an elementary librarian, so I decided to look through my own library for books about Antarctica for my students.
Here are a few of my favorites:
I picked a few of these up as I was reading this book because I now have great respect for those who choose to live in Antarctica for the sake of research and discovery, and I wanted to know more about those who feel the need to pursue a dream against all odds.
Thank you to Net Galley for letting me read the preview copy of Up to this Pointe. I am happy to be part of the promotion for this book! I hope I can make it to Village Books in Bellingham on February 6 for Jen Longo's signing.
Happy reading!
