SOLVED. Girl wants to learn belly dancing, middle grade book, '80s-'90s. [s]

[Jane]

This is a middle-grade book, and I read it in the early- to mid-'90s. It would have been published then, or maybe the late '80s.

It's about a girl who decides she wants to learn to belly dance. Her dad makes her present a logical argument anytime she wants to do anything, so she does a presentation to convince him to let her try. He does, but she runs into trouble because she's afraid of snakes, and she thinks belly dancing requires dancing with a snake. The only other thing I remember is when she finally shows everyone the dance she's been learning, she pronounces "debut" as "dee-butt", and her dad makes a joke about how in belly dancing you swing de butt.

The cover had a blue border with a white insert, and an illustration of a white girl with possibly red hair in a dance costume.

[Rainbowheart]

Samantha Gill, Belly Dancer

[Jane]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Samantha Gill, Belly Dancer"

That's it, thank you!!

[Rainbowheart]

No prob, glad to help out!