{"id":28490,"date":"2015-10-06T20:59:55","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T00:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=28490"},"modified":"2015-10-06T20:59:55","modified_gmt":"2015-10-07T00:59:55","slug":"review-of-swan-by-laurel-snyder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=28490","title":{"rendered":"Review of Swan, by Laurel Snyder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"swan_large\"<\/a>Swan<\/p>\n

The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova<\/em><\/p>\n

by Laurel Snyder
\nillustrated by Julie Morstad<\/p>\n

Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2015. 48 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

This is an evocative, poetic, and beautiful picture book biography of the great ballerina, Anna Pavlova.<\/p>\n

The actual text is short on details and long on atmosphere, but it gets the story across. A well-written, still mellifluous Author\u2019s Note at the back fills things in.<\/p>\n

Anna started out the daughter of a laundress. Here\u2019s how Laurel Snyder puts it in her note:<\/p>\n

It was a hard life, and Russia under the czars was generally a world where the poor stayed poor. Anna\u2019s life should<\/em> have been dismal.<\/p>\n

But one night Anna\u2019s mother told her, \u201cYou are going to enter fairyland,\u201d as the two climbed into their sleigh and sped off to the Mariinsky Theatre. There, Anna heard Tchaikovsky\u2019s music for the first time. She watched the dancers step out onto the stage, and her life was changed forever. Anna knew what she wanted to do with her life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The main picture book text begins with this incident of Anna and her mother going through the snow to the ballet. Julie Morstad\u2019s illustrations are perfect for this book, capturing the beauty of Anna\u2019s grace as a little girl in a plain dress all the way through her triumphant performances as The Dying Swan<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the poetic way Laurel Snyder tells about the start of Anna\u2019s career:<\/p>\n

Until one night she takes the stage . . .<\/p>\n

Anna becomes
\na glimmer, a grace.
\nEveryone feels it,
\nand the lamps shine brighter.
\nThe room holds its breath.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t be that she should be
\nthis<\/em> good.
\nHer legs too thin,
\nher feet all wrong \u2013
\nand ooh, those toes!
\nShe is only a girl \u2013
\nso small \u2013 so frail \u2013
\nbut
\nsee her face, her flutter?<\/p>\n

Anna was born for this.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I didn\u2019t know before reading this book that Anna Pavlova worked to bring ballet to everyone, where before it had been primarily an art form enjoyed by the rich. But ballet changed Anna\u2019s life, and she wanted to bring its power to others and traveled around the world doing that.<\/p>\n

laurelsnyder.com<\/a>
\njuliemorstad.com<\/a>
\nchroniclekids.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/swan.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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