Angelina, headed to the Mouseland Dance Festival aboard her grandparents' canal boat, is so obsessed with practicing her dance moves, and so neglectful of her duties, that the trip turns into a near disaster.
The author, a professional ballerina, introduces the art of ballet, from the basic positions, poses, jumps, and exercises to folk and character dancing, makeup, choreography, and perfoming on stage.
A ten-year-old student at the School of American Ballet in New York describes her classes and the preparation for and performance of her role in the ballet "The Nutcracker.".
A baseball-loving girl worries that the ballet class her mother forces her to take will ruin her reputation with the other members of her baseball team.
In this novel written in free verse, Clare and her grandfather must deal with changes in their lives when Clare's summer growth spurt threatens to end her dream of becoming a ballet dancer and her grandfather suffers a stroke.