Swan Dive

Author: Georgina Pazcoguin
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250244293
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
"Don't expect just tulle and toe shoes. In this fascinating insider's tale, NYCB dancer Pazcoguin reveals her world. . . . A striking debut." —People Award-winning New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin, aka the Rogue Ballerina, gives readers a backstage tour of the real world of elite ballet—the gritty, hilarious, sometimes shocking truth you don’t see from the orchestra circle. In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, NYCB’s first Asian American female soloist Georgina Pazcoguin lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of humor about the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest mentality at NYCB. Some swan dives are literal: even in the ballet, there are plenty of face-plants, backstage fights, late-night parties, and raucous company bonding sessions. Rocked by scandal in the wake of the #MeToo movement, NYCB sits at an inflection point, inching toward progress in a strictly traditional culture, and Pazcoguin doesn’t shy away from ballet’s dark side. She continues to be one of the few dancers openly speaking up against the sexual harassment, mental abuse, and racism that in the past went unrecognized or was tacitly accepted as par for the course—all of which she has painfully experienced firsthand. Tying together Pazcoguin’s fight for equality in the ballet with her infectious and deeply moving passion for her craft, Swan Dive is a page-turning, one-of-a-kind account that guarantees you'll never view a ballerina or a ballet the same way again.

Swan Dive

Author: Brenda Hasiuk
Publisher: Groundwood Books Ltd
ISBN: 177306147X
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Book Description
A teenage refugee adapts to a new country, a new language, new school and even finds a wonderful best friend, until the pressures of past and present collide and lead to a lie that changes everything. Refugees from the Bosnian War, Lazar’s family flees the Siege of Sarajevo and arrives in Winnipeg in the early 1990s. Despite various mini dramas unfolding at home, as his parents and older sisters navigate a new language, the bitter cold and a strange city and country, Lazar manages to find a place for himself at school, largely by making friends with Elle, a sassy, outspoken girl who divides her time between living with her hoarder mother (who stuffs their tiny apartment with bargains she finds at Liquidation World) and her hippie father, Jimmy, who lives in British Columbia. But as two geeky loners, Elle and Lazar are happy in their own bubble of friendship, especially after they form a pop duo and dream of making it big on Star Search. Soon Lazar’s desperate escape out of Sarajevo seems far away, even as the trauma of his broken homeland looms large with his family at home. Then Elle comes back from Vancouver after a summer at Jimmy’s, and things are different. They’re in high school, Elle has lost weight and blossomed into popularity, while Lazar remains small, skinny and forgettable. She seems to have forgotten all about their singing plans and starts spending time with a new kid, Ivan. Lazar is unmoored and filled with new longings — for Elle, for Ivan, for a sense that he belongs somewhere. His mother and older sisters worry about his health, that he’s so thin, that he’s not interested in sports, even though the doctors can’t find anything wrong. And then, in an impulsive moment, Lazar tells Ivan that he’s seriously ill. And with this one reckless lie he suddenly gets — and loses — everything he thought he wanted. Key Text Features author’s note historical context Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Answered Prayers

Author: Truman Capote
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0345803043
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
Although Truman Capote's last novel was unfinished at the time of his death, its surviving portions offer a devastating group portrait of the high and low society of his time. • Includes the story La Cote Basque featured in the major FX series Feud: Capote Vs. the Swans. "Prose that makes the heart sing and the narrative fly." —The New York Times Book Review Tracing the career of a writer of uncertain parentage and omnivorous erotic tastes, Answered Prayers careens from a louche bar in Tangiers to a banquette at La Côte Basque, from literary salons to high-priced whorehouses. It takes in calculating beauties and sadistic husbands along with such real-life supporting characters as Colette, the Duchess of Windsor, Montgomery Clift, and Tallulah Bankhead. Above all, this malevolently finny book displays Capote at his most relentlessly observant and murderously witty.

Idol Gossip

Author: Alexandra Leigh Young
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 1536213640
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
Offered a spot at the Star Academy, one of the biggest K-pop companies, seventeen-year-old singer Alice Choy must navigate culture clashes, egos and extreme training practices to come out on top, despite the efforts of an influential blogger trying to tear her down.

Hunger of the Pine

Author: Teal Swan
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
ISBN: 1786784475
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Book Description
Aria Abbott has never had a home. Drifting through the foster system for most of her life, she finally finds herself in a situation so unbearable that she has no choice but to run away. Sleeping on the streets pushes Aria beyond any suffering she has felt before; the only thing worse than seeing no escape is the knowledge that no one in the world cares enough to try and find her. Enter Taylor, a homeless young man with a charismatic smile and a dream of fame, fortune, and the sunshine of LA. Swept up in his energy, Aria and Taylor board a greyhound bus and never look back. In this bright new world, Aria will discover a whole community of people living in the shadows, in the margins of society. As Taylor follows his dreams, Aria follows her heart. But she will discover that it isn’t always clear who you can trust, that strangers can be kind, or treacherous, or sometimes as familiar as your own reflection, if you’re willing to look hard enough.

A Widow's Awakening

Author: Maryanne Pope
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781643970516
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Book Description
A WIDOW'S AWAKENING is engaging, powerful, heart-wrenching, and at times humorous. This honest look at the first year of a widow's grief after the death of her husband captures the immense difficulty of learning how to accept the unacceptable while transforming loss into positive change-and is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

The Boy Next Door

Author: R.L. Stine
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671894323
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 163

Book Description
Lauren and Crystal would do anything to get to go out with Scott. But neither of them realize that Scott's last girlfriend is dead.

Shadows Before Dawn

Author: Teal Swan
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
ISBN: 1401948162
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Book Description
Growing up in a tranquil wilderness, Teal Swan had a childhood that was anything but serene. Horrors lurked behind the façade of the perfect houses and pious community of the surrounding towns, and Teal attracted undue attention because of her unusually powerful extrasensory abilities. At the hands of a local cult member, she barely survived 13 years of horrendous abuse – and even after her escape, she was left powerless, lost, hurting, and with no way to cope. Gradually, and incredibly, Teal forged her way from the edge of despair to a sliver of light . . .and eventually emerged from the darkness into the full dawn of self-love. Here, she shows how you, too, can achieve the feelings of worthiness that may be long missing from your life. Now a recognized spiritual luminary, Teal documents how she dug herself out of self-hate, and details the remarkable trail for others to get to the same place. Shadows Before Dawn encompasses both Teal’s compelling story, told with raw intensity, and her resolute, no-nonsense how-to guide to healing from even the deepest levels of suffering. Offering a comprehensive self-love tool kit, Teal shares powerful exercises, insights, and perspective grounded in spirituality, and lets you choose which techniques are right for you. Teal’s resonating words will sit with your soul long after you put this book down and will serve as guideposts on the way to complete self-love – no matter who you are or where you are in life.

Pirate's Perfect Pet

Author: Beth Ferry
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763672882
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33

Book Description
Pirates, pets and puns run amok as a swaggering but softhearted captain swashbuckler embarks on a daring quest to find a perfect animal sidekick.

Apsara Engine

Author: Bishakh Som
Publisher: Feminist Press
ISBN: 9781936932818
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Book Description
"In trans illustrator Bishakh Som's debut work of fiction, questions of gender, the body, and existential conformity are explored over the course of eight speculative and graphic short stories"--