Image: Penguin Random House
Happy Tuesday! I'm a bit late today posting because I was working on a big house project since early this morning! Teen Tuesday features Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon. Ms. Yoon's last book, The Sun is Also a Star is a TMS fan favorite. Both that book and her debut, Everything, Everything were adapted for film, both of which my students adore. Instructions for Dancing is quite cinematic as well!
Evie Thomas swore off romance ever since her parents' divorce. The fact that she caught her dad cheating has also put a serious strain on their previously close relationship. She even went so far as to purge all her favorite romance novels from her home library. While donating the books to a little free library, Evie encounters a strange, old woman who insists she take a book called, Instructions for Dancing, and also seems to put a spell on her. Evie finds that whenever she spots a couple kissing, she has visions of the beginning, middle and end of their relationship. These visions seem to confirm her new cynical views on romance and Evie wants them to stop, so she tries to track down the old woman. The only clue inside the book is an address for La Brea Dance Studio.
There, she meets X, short for Xavier, a handsome musician who is staying with his grandparents while he and his band try to make it in L.A. His grandparents own the studio. Evie doesn't find answers at the dance studio, but she does allow herself to be talked into a free dance lesson by Fifi, the fierce and opinionated dance instructor and, eventually into an amateur ballroom dance competition with X as her partner.
Will X's "say yes to everything" attitude rub off on Evie? Her sister and mother seems to have moved on after the breakup. Can Evie? This smart romance asks some deep questions and features many likable characters, witty dialogue and swoony dancing. Fans of Ms. Yoon's work will not be disappointed.
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