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The Girl Who Wanted to Dance (by Amy Ehrlich)

common sense media says

Haunting fairy tale is dark and confusing for younger kids.

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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Clara's parents are both more concerned with their own feelings than with hers. Her abandonment is the centerpiece of the book, but isn't satisfactorily resolved.

Positive messages: Ultimately the message is that artistic inspiration and family life are incompatible, and that parental abandonment is OK under some circumstances.
Positive role models: Clara is abandoned when one of her parents makes a selfish choice and the resolution is unsatisfying.
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More on The Girl Who Wanted to Dance

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
  • Families can talk about their own hopes and dreams and how they have learned to make them fit with the needs of their loved ones.
  • Parents can share the things they do for love (favorite hobbies or creative endeavors) and how they do them while still meeting their family obligations.
  • Kids can brainstorm ways that Clara could still see her mother without her mother having to give up her love of dancing.
  • Families can talk about the way Clara could talk to her father about her feelings and imagine what his appropriate response ought to be.
  • Families may want to rewrite the book with a happier ending; one that addresses the needs of all the characters.

What's the story?

What's the story?
Clara wants to be a dancer. In fact, dancing is in her very soul and her grandmother tells her it's no surprise since her mother -- whose absence isn't explained at first -- also loved to dance. But her taciturn father doesn't like to see her dancing or hear the lilting songs her grandmother plays on the piano. When Clara's grandmother dies, she is left alone to deal with her grief and her father's continued distance. Then one day a dancing troupe arrives in town and Clara wants to join them. Will the performer she meets let her become a dancer, too?

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

One can't help but wonder if the author of the book was so caught up in her romantic, fairy tale tone that she missed the story's ending, which basically says that parents have a right to emotionally and physically leave their children if their needs are great. Instead of a conclusion that acknowledges and resolves Clara's abandonment, the "happy" ending is that Clara is left alone again only now with the understanding that to dance matters more than family ties; certainly not a message to send to kids whether their own families are intact or not.

Clara's losses are never really addressed. Better to read the book with a critical eye to the story and use it to discuss values around family obligations and explore ways we can meet our professional and personal goals without hurting the people we love the most.

Beautiful illustrations effectively convey the fairy tale tone of the book.

Book themes & details

Book Details
Author: Amy Ehrlich
Illustrator: Rebecca Walsh
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication date: February 10, 2009
Number of pages: 40
Hardcover price: $17.99
Read Aloud: 4
Read Alone: 8
This review was written by Dawn Friedman
 
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child, some content may not be right for some kids
OFF: Not age appropriate for kids this age
Our child development rating guidelines