SOLVED. 1980s or 1990s YA book about ballerina dancing The Nutcracker. [s]

[faithinbooks]

I'm pretty sure it was written in the 80s but it could be the early 90s. Here is what I remember: the book starts with 2 girls sitting on top of a bunk bed. One girl is a ballerina (main character), the other loves art. The main character makes an observation about their legs dangling off the bed, the art girl's legs swinging north/south while hers swing east/west (typical of a dancer). The main character is going away to perform in the Nutcracker and they exchange boxes of homemade stationary to keep in touch. She receives paper with pointe shoes drawn in the upper right hand corner and the ribbons falling down to create the margin. The art girl receives paper with tubes of paint drawn in the upper right hand corner with paint squeezing out falling down the page creating the margin. The main character goes to New York (I think) and is met at the airport by the owner of the house she will be staying at & her son (the son makes the comment about knowing how to spot a dancer). She lives in the house with other dancers including a girl from Russia (who talks about standing in line in Russia to buy basic necessities). I can only remember snippets: the main character sitting in the plane nervous, making sure every hair in her bun is in place; the main character having hot chocolate in the middle of the night with the son; the girls reading a secret diary then almost getting caught but one of them starts dancing saying they're having a pajama party giving the other girl a chance to sneak the diary back; the main character hears someone vomiting in the bathroom in the middle of the night. I hope that is enough information!

[Rainbowheart]

Emma's Turn?

Samantha on Stage?

Jill and the Nutcracker Ballet?

[faithinbooks]

Thank you for the titles but the age is too young. I believe the characters in the book I'm looking for are the ages 16-18, maybe even up to 20 years old? Old enough that the main character dances in the corps De ballet

[Kris]

faithinbooks, please add more information in the header/topic title (e.g., genre, plot, main characters). Many members only read the headers. We have thousands of YA requests.

Copy the genre (e.g., YA coming-of-age, realistic fiction?) and plot details from your message #1 to the header. Click the small "edit" link after the header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app. (On the Mobile website, there's a "Desktop version" link at the bottom of the page.)

[Andria]

I'd Rather Be Dancing, maybe?

[faithinbooks]

FOUND IT! It's Kate's Turn by Jeanne Betancourt!

[Rainbowheart]

Glad you found it!

Kate's Turn for the link.