Summary: Before becoming Michaela DePrince, Mabinty Bangura survives the horrors of war in Sierra Leone, losing both her parents and being sent off to live in an orphanage under terrible conditions. One day, she finds the cover of a magazine with a ballerina on it and is fascinated. From then on, she has one dream: becoming a ballerina herself. When an American family adopts her, her dreams seem to come true. But her way to a professional ballet dancer is not an easy one and she soon learns that even in America there are hardships to be endured.

Review

After reading the blurb I immediately knew: I would love this story. And I wasn’t disappointed! As a ballet dancer myself, it was easy to connect to Mabinty’s fascination for ballet and her wish to pursue dancing as a career. Seeing her develop from a young child in a war-torn country, to a young woman making her dreams come true was a wholesome experience. The book gives the reader an insight into her journey, telling about all the hardships she had to endure but also about moments of joy and success along the way. It wasn’t always easy to read, since Michaela didn’t shy away from showing the difficult parts and describing the suffering she had to endure, especially as a child in Sierra Leone, but that was also what made the book feel so personal and honest. Since the book was written in first-person perspective, it was even easier to connect to her story.

Michaela was a fascinating person to read about, not only because of her achievements but also for her personality. She isn’t perfect and the book doesn’t try to make her seem that way. But the amount of courage she possessed to stand up for herself and for others when they needed it the most, despite it sometimes being dangerous, and the kindness she showed even in the most difficult times, made her a person to look up to.

To me, the book had a perfect balance between addressing important topics, such as racism in the ballet world and the situation of children in war zones, and delivering an inspirational story full of hope and role models. It wasn’t only Michaela who demonstrated her qualities in this book, her family members deserve equal praise for being the way they are. Her sister Mia, a girl she got to know in the orphanage, for the support she gave Michaela when they were all on their own, and their adoptive parents for taking in several children from difficult situations and accepting them as their own. Apart from Michaela’s success as a dancer, in a world where hate and conflicts are so prevalent, reading about the way they worked together as a family and supported each other showed that there is still a lot of good in this world, even if it is sometimes less visible.

I couldn’t find any negative points about this book and I don’t want to nitpick just for the sake of having something to criticise. However, and this doesn’t qualify as criticism for me, I wouldn’t have minded reading a more detailed version of her story and thus spending more time with the fascinating people in it.

All in all, this biography was a short but interesting read that gave me inspiration to pursue my dreams and hope that, despite not everything always going according to plan (or in Michaela’s case, a lot of things taking a terrible turn), if you don’t give up and do what you love you can make your dreams come true.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get inspired by her story. One thing I might add is that you should probably have some sort of interest in ballet/dance, since this makes such a huge part of the story and makes it easier to relate to Michaela as a person. That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the story when ballet is not your passion! If you are fine with reading a lot about ballet and want to relate the story to your own passions and dreams, you will surely be inspired too.

Things to consider before reading:

Due to the nature of the story there are descriptions of abuse, violence and death. They are not there for the shock factor but to give an honest account of what Michaela went through, and they are not graphic. If you feel uncomfortable reading about those topics, however, this book might not be right for you.

There are also mentions of racism and situations in which the characters are insulted based on their skin colour or the way they look. This too serves the purpose to illustrate the problems those people were confronted with during their journey.

Disclaimer: This should serve solely as a guide when deciding whether or not to read this book. I cannot guarantee that this list is complete. If you are triggered by something or want to avoid certain topics, please make sure to double check.

Feel free to share your opinion on the book in the comments. I would love to hear what you think about it and whether you liked it!

Please remember to keep the comments spoiler-free however or add a Spoiler Alert beforehand so everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the reading experience without knowing everything that happens (although I personally think in this case it is more about experiencing the story than it is about discovering the ending, since everyone who knows Michaela already knows how her story ends).