Drina Ballet Series #6 Drina Dances in New York

Drina and her grandparents go on a trip to New York.  They sail to New York via a luxury liner.  During Drina's time on the trip, she becomes friends with Yolande, a young dancer who has extreme fear of dancing in front of an audience.  She also meets Grant Rossiter and falls in love with him on first sight.  

While in New York City, Drina continues her friendship with Yolande and tries to help the girl overcome her fear.  Drina enjoys spending time with Grant, while dreading her upcoming departure.  Drina knows that she is too young for Grant and is unlikely ever to see him again after she returns to London.

Drina is beginning to grow up.  She is frustrated that people still think she is very young because of her small size.  

On page 29 of the Collins edition, Drina frets about her appearance.

Drina glanced at herself in the looking-glass.  She still looked no more than twelve and it was beginning to be a slight grief to her.  To be nearly fifteen and to look like a child was really very annoying.

On page 112 of the Collins edition, Drina is thinking about her visit with Grant that night.

Driving back to Eighth Avenue in a taxi, with all the windows open and the hot wind blowing her hair about, she looked forward to the evening with that disturbing mixture of pleasure and pain.

Growing up, she thought, as the taxi stopped outside the hotel and she hastily counted out quarters and dollars, was really a most disturbing experience.

This book is as good as the first few titles in the series.  I did skip a small amount of travelogue information and at least one lengthy letter to a friend.  Other than that, I found all of the story to be quite engaging.  I loved the part on the ship, and I enjoyed Drina's interactions with Yolande.

This is an excellent book.

Drina Ballet Series #5 Drina Dances Again

Drina Adams is back again at the Dominick Ballet School in London, after a holiday in Italy—ready for a term's hard work.  But when Drina goes to see her friend Rose in the country, she pulls a muscle and there is no dancing for Drina for a few weeks.  Instead, she has the chance to act in Barrie's Dear Brutus, which is enjoyable and exciting, although acting will always be second-best for Drina.  Then she has the superb luck to dance at the Edinburgh Festival as Little Clare in Casse Noisette—and Rose goes too, as understudy.

The above summary was taken from the dust jacket of the British edition.

This book starts off very interesting and enjoyable.  Most of the book is pretty good.  A few spots are heavy on the travelogue, and I skimmed those parts. 

I enjoy that Drina's big secret, that her mother was the famous ballerina Elizabeth Ivory, is gradually revealed to one or two characters at a time, over the course of multiple books.  The secret is revealed to two important characters during this story. 

This series is centered around Drina's secret and her long road to success as a ballerina.  I love getting the payoff pieced out bit by bit so that it can be savored.

This book is overall very good.  I liked it better than Drina Dances in Italy but not quite as much as the first three books in the series.

Drina Ballet Series #4 Drina Dances in Italy

Drina Adams, who was sent to the country for a year's rest, returns to London's Dominick Ballet School.  Here she lives once again in the world she loves—the world of tutus and magic princes and hard, hard work.

At Eastertime, Drina goes to Italy to meet her Italian grandmother Adamo, whom she has never seen.  There, in Genoa, she is suddenly offered the chance every young ballerina dreams of—to dance with the Dominick Ballet Company itself!  

The above summary is from the publisher. 

Drina becomes friends with a refugee named Ilonka who came from the eastern European country of Lynzonia. 

From page 32:

Drina was by no means ignorant of the tragedies of Europe.  There were three girls and a boy at Chalk Green who had, in their different ways, escaped from behind the Iron Curtain.  In the little country of Lynzonia there had recently been a tragic and unsuccessful revolution against Soviet rule.

Lynzonia is fictitious, but the Iron Curtain and Soviet oppression in Europe were quite real.  It was timely and jarring to read this passage at the beginning of the second week of Russia's war with Ukraine.

Jenny loves farming films.  From page 67 of the Collins edition:

Jenny adored the farming film, which she pronounced more sensible than usual.

"They did cram in rather too many disasters—to make the story exciting, I suppose—but he was quite a sensible man.  I hate the soppy ones, who neglect their farms for their girl-friends."

Farming disasters and farmers neglecting their farms for their girls struck me as funny.

I found parts of this book to be a bit boring.  During one stretch, Drina exchanges letters with her friends, Jenny, Rose, and Ilonka, as well as with her grandmother.  This part of the story consists of one lengthy letter after another, all of which are in italics, which makes reading them to be more difficult than the rest of the book.  This part of the story also has a lengthy description of the entire plot of a ballet.  I was so bored and began skimming.

The book gets more interesting during the part about Igor Dominick's son in Italy.  It then goes back into more letters and lots of detail about Italy.  After I finished the book, I realized that a good part of it is a travelogue.  I think overall that the travelogue aspect is interesting, and I did enjoy some parts of it.  But I'm really struggling with reading right now, so I found it to be quite tedious.

Parts of the book are excellent, parts are very good, and other parts are boring.  The book is overall very good.

Drina Ballet Series #3 Drina Dances in Exile

Drina Adams, whose real name is Andrina Adamo and whose mother was the famous dancer Elizabeth Ivory, is heartbroken by the news that she must leave London, as her grandparents are off to Australia, and go to the Dominick Residential Ballet School in the Chilterns.

But she gradually comes to like her country exile and makes new friends, including the puppy Petrouchka, whom she rescues from a trap.  

The greatest excitement of all comes when she is given the name part in the ballet "The Changling," to be danced at the Dominick Theatre, London.

The above summary is from the publisher.

Drina is devastated when she has to leave the Dominick school for the country school.  The writing is so good that I felt what Drina felt as I read the story.  Like Drina, I grew to love the country school and regretted that Drina would be leaving it to go back to London.  

Drina continues to have to deal with the cutting remarks of her rivals.  The remarks cause Drina to feel insecure about her role in the ballet.  Miss Whiteway speaks to Drina and bolsters her confidence. 

From page 139 of the Collins edition:

Miss Selswick watched [Drina] with relief, and Christine, Queen, and Daphne [watched Drina] with a good deal of gloom.  They knew, somehow, that Drina had escaped from them.  Their gibes would not matter now; she was lost in the ballet, happy and confident again.

This is an excellent book just like the first two books in the series.

Drina Ballet Series #2 Drina's Dancing Year

Drina Adams auditions at the Igor Dominick Ballet School and wins herself a place as a student.  At the school, Drina makes friends with a girl named Rose.  Drina also makes a few enemies, but only because the girls are jealous of her.

She goes to stay with her old friend Jenny Pilgrim, and Jenny is as supportive as ever.  Drina's greatest hope is to be chosen to dance in the Christmas Pantomime, but her teachers have an even nicer surprise in store for her.

The above summary is from the publisher. 

I do tend to skim a small amount when Drina mentions a particular ballet and its story.  That doesn't mean anything to me, but fortunately, those passages aren't very long.

Drina decided at the end of the previous book to keep her mother's identity a secret.  Drina wants to succeed or fail on her own merit and not because her mother was the famous ballerina, Elizabeth Ivory.

As I read the second book, I reflected upon what an intense, high-strung girl Drina is.  I can relate to that, since I have always been a bit high-strung, less so now that I'm on a beta blocker as well as thyroid replacement hormone.  So, I understand Drina quite well and find her intensity to be fascinating.  

I reflected about how good of a friend Jenny Pilgrim is.  Jenny and Drina are very different, but they understand and support each other. 

Drina's rivals are actually sane.  In the Stratemeyer properties, the rivals tend to be a bit mentally unbalanced.  Obvious examples are Lettie Briggs from the Dana Girls series and Ethel Eaton from the Kay Tracey series.  Drina's rivals just make mean remarks and snub Drina.  You know, normal stuff that mean girls do, rather than the psychotic and criminal behavior of the Stratemeyer rivals.  

This book is excellent.

Drina Ballet Series #1 Ballet for Drina

Why couldn't her grandmother understand?  There was only one thing that Drina wanted—one thing only—to dance.  And now it was forbidden!

Ever since she was very small, Drina—an orphan whose real name was Andrina Adamo—had wanted to be a ballet dancer.  She had read about all the great dancers of the past; she had practiced steps since she could first sway to music; she had been exhilarated by the dancers she had seen perform—and yet her grandmother still refused to let her train for the ballet.  Drina wondered if she would have to dance for her own shadow, in solitude; or could she hope for a real career?

The above summary was taken from the dust jacket of the American edition.  The jacket's back flap has this information about the author, Jean Estoril, and the creation of the Drina series.

"Drina" was born one night at the Royal Opera House at the opening of the ballet season.  Both Les Sylphides and Daphnis and Chloe were on the bill, and by the second intermission Miss Estoril knew that she would have to write a story about a ballet student.  This was fortunate for young readers, since Miss Estoril has the rare faculty of being able to present believable, lovable characters, involved in situations that are exciting and suspenseful yet always realistic. 

 

I read the Collins edition, where the back cover states:  "A new fiction series set in the magical world of ballet.  The first six books follow the career of Drina, the daughter of a famous ballerina, along the high road to Covent Garden.  Jean Estoril's appealing young dancer heroine will captivate readers who love ballet."

Since I had read the back cover blurb, I knew before beginning the book that Drina's mother was a famous ballerina.  When Mrs. Chester, Drina's grandmother, pulls out all the stops to prevent her from becoming a dancer, I knew that was the reason.  I assumed that whatever had happened to Drina's mother was considered to have been caused by ballet.  I already knew why, so it wasn't a surprise to me.  I still read with anticipation, wondering how Drina would react whenever she learned about her mother.

As I wrote in my previous post, I was reluctant to try these books since I have had bad experiences with books about young dancers.  The experiences were bad because the authors described dancing in excessive intricate detail, so much so that I was extremely bored.  I could not read those books.  These books do not go into that kind of detail, so they are not boring.

I found the story to be thoroughly engaging and excellent from beginning to end.  

In my previous post, I included scans of the early part of the book so that readers can determine whether this book is of a style they can enjoy.

25 Years Ago Today

I cannot let today go by without acknowledging that I registered on eBay 25 years ago today.  I registered in order to bid on a tweed copy of Larkspur Lane that had a rather chipped dust jacket.  I lost the auction since I bid under $10.  In those days, I considered that a bit high, since I was used to cheap books in local stores.

I had been lurking on eBay since around January 1997.  I didn't jump into online activity instantly.  I checked eBay out for around two months before I finally started bidding. 

I have written posts about my eBay anniversary several times, since that day was an important day in my life.  I would not have what I have if not for eBay.  I don't know exactly how many of the books in my collection were purchased on eBay, but it has to be at least 90% of them.  

Here are links to some of my past posts which share interesting information about the early days of eBay.

Twelve Years Ago Today

The above post goes into some detail as to how I became a series book collector.  It also has a scan of the first listing I won on eBay.

Here's another post.

20 Years Ago Today

I also found the post where I go into greater detail about how I became a series book collector.

Where It All Began

Finally, here's a post about the most exciting find I ever made in an antique shop.  

Remembering My Best Find

The Secret of Riverside Farm by Jean Hager

Twelve-year-old Alison Hill and her family leave their apartment in the city for a three-months' stay at Riverside Farm in rural Oklahoma.  Mr. Hill is a writer and plans to complete work on some manuscripts during the summer.  

Living on a farm is a new experience for Alison and her younger brother John.  They find the old farmhouse looking like a "milk carton"—tall, narrow, old, and dejected.  Alison feels a bit dejected herself and hopes the summer away from her friends will not be as drab as she expects.  

However, Alison's natural curiosity and love of mystery are aroused when she discovers a letter hidden in a window seat in her room.  The letter, yellowed with age, hints that something valuable is hidden on the farm.  

With the help of her brother and a neighbor boy, Alison begins a methodical investigation.  But clues turn up that are far more interesting than anticipated, leading Alison and her helpers into dangerous situations. 

I never cared about the story.  This book is missing that extra something that makes Jean Hager's The Whispering House special.  This book is just okay and nothing more.