Hope in a Ballet Shoe: Orphaned by war, saved by ballet: an extraordinary true story

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But one day, the Harmattan winds blow a magazine against the gates – its cover photograph showing a beautiful ballerina. Most of the brutality occurs at the start of the memoir as Michaela's early years in Sierra Leone are covered. While at the orphanage she witnessed her teacher be murdered but she also befriended a couple of girls.

Then the rest of the story follows Michaela when she and Mabinty get adopted by American parents and follows her dream to become a ballet dancer. The book begins with her childhood growing up in Sierra Leone, where the war left her orphaned and at the disposal of her cruel uncle.This led her to be subject to hateful names but her birth parents thought she was beautiful and loved her regardless. One day a magazine was blown against the orphanage fence - it had a picture of a dancer, tall, elegant and standing en pointe - not that Michaela knew what en pointe was or even the word "ballet" but she wanted to be that girl more than anything. Read this book whilst on holiday in Spain, I’ve always been a keen ballet dancer And had a massive love for it and this book captures the essence and importance of ballet in many peoples lives no matter the background. There are moments that will cause your heart to contract with anxiety as you rush through the book with baited breath, needing to know how things turn out for this wonderful, inspirational dancer, moments where your heart explodes into a frenzy of joy and moments where you feel yourself being uplifted, feeling as if you can accomplish anything, feeling as if - now that you've read Michaela's story - anything is possible, anything at all. Afterwards she danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem professional company for one year before joining the Dutch National Junior Company as a second-year member and apprentice to the main company.

With classics such as Ted Hughes's The Iron Man and award-winners including Emma Carroll's Letters from the Lighthouse, Faber Children's Books brings you the best in picture books, young reads and classics. Orphaned at the age of four in war-torn Sierra Leone and left in an orphanage by her uncle, Michaela dePrince refused to give up hope and is now a professional ballerina with the Dutch National Ballet.Michaela's life changes overnight and her dream of becoming a ballerina has the possibility to become a reality. I would absolutely love to read a biography of her American mother who adopted lots of children and gave them all a superbly warm home.