Slip Jig Summer

by Elizabeth J.M. Walker

Fifteen-year-old Natalie is obsessed with ballet and plans to spend the entire summer in dance class with her two best friends. But when her mom gets a job out of town, Natalie gets shipped off to stay with cousins she barely knows.

Natalie is thrilled when her cousins invite her to join them at the local dance studio. But it turns out it's not a ballet class; it's Irish dance. Skeptical at first, Natalie is surprised to learn she really enjoys the new dance style and agrees to take part in an upcoming competition. But this new passion could result in Natalie having to leave her ballet dreams behind.

128 pages, Paperback

Published March 27, 2018

Reviews

[Brittni Brinn]

A great read for the intended age group! The story considers new experiences as positive things in spite of the challenges they can present. For Natalie, this means exploring a new form of dance. Although at times Natalie seems to accept change too easily, her younger cousin Molly provides a foil for her enthusiasm. Molly's interest in fish over dance was my favourite part of the novel. Dance isn't everyone's passion, and that's okay too! I would recommend this book for young dancers of any gender and middle grade classrooms.

[Mirror World]

A simple, but engaging story about stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking a chance on something different. There's nothing complicated about this short novel. It has endearing characters and an easy to read plot about a summer fling with a new style of dance. I enjoyed that it was set in Windsor, Ontario and I enjoyed the youngest cousin who likes fish. I would recommend this to a beginner reader, or someone who likes simple, heart-warming stories without much conflict.

[Joyce]

I guess if you're really into dance this might be a super-interesting book, but for me it was pretty slow and boring. There doesn't seem to be much of a plot, but I did skim very quickly. However, there are probably some kids who'd be happy to find this on the shelf--a lot of kids like MotorTrend after all, and I'm not one of them.