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(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Gloria Félix.
Dancer Alicia Alonso (1920-2019) grew up in Cuba, where she attended the island's sole, poorly funded ballet school. In 1937 she moved to New York to study at the American Ballet Theatre and was well on her way to becoming a prima ballerina when she began to lose her eyesight. In a well-paced narrative, Viña emphasizes Alonso's resilience and determination--as she contends with a new country and language and later as she recovers from eye surgeries, reenters the dance world, learns to dance with impaired vision, and eventually returns to Cuba to teach. Félix's cartoon-style illustrations focus on movement and emotion. An author's note and bibliography are appended.