An African American girl's dream of dancing in a segregated society draws closer after she sees Janet Collins dance at New York's Metropolitan Opera House.
In poetic prose, Kristy Dempsey (Me with You) introduces an indefatigable narrator who, each night from her rooftop, whispers her wish, "even though there are not stars to be found, not a single one." Her mother tells her, "Hope can pick your dreams up... off the floor of your heart." The woman works hard cleaning and stitching costumes at a New York City ballet school. Her daughter has spent so much time there that "before I even knew it, a dream got inside my heart." Mama watches her twirl in front of the mirror, emulating the moves she observed at rehearsals. Luckily, the Ballet Master sees her, too, and arranges for her to join the lessons. "Could a colored girl like me ever become a prima ballerina?" she wonders.
Floyd Cooper (Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea) captures the girl's energy as she waits with her mother at the bus stop to see Janet Collins perform as the "first colored prima ballerina" at the Metropolitan Opera House ("my feet won't stop their tippy-tappy, jumpin' jiggle, can't-hardly-wait wiggle"). His artwork beautifully melds the narrator's fantasy with reality, as she pictures herself leaping across the stage alongside Janet Collins, allowing readers to visualize her dream as an imminent possibility. Collins's dance that day (November 13, 1951) is the first of many milestone events leading to the opportunities opening up to the child narrator. Inspiring. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness