rachelmanija (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija) wrote2023-10-26 11:29 am
rachelmanija) wrote2023-10-26 11:29 am
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Just Like Jenny, by Sandy Asher
1980s YA about two young ballet dancers, Stephie and Jenny, who have been best friends since they met at a dance academy at ages six and eight, respectively. The two-year gap and personality factors have led to Stephie looking up to Jenny and seeing her as perfect and herself as inferior and needy. When their dance teacher invites them both to audition for his even-more-hardcore semi-professional dance troupe, it forces Stephie to take a serious look at both her own ambitions and her relationship with Jenny.
This book packs a lot into 148 pages, sketching out a complete life for Stephie beyond the academy, complete with brief but deft characterizations of her family, Jenny's family, teachers at Stephie's school which also has performance classes taught by an aging hippie with regrets, the boy she has a crush on, and actual professional theatres that might be hiring. The ending is a bit pat but overall it's well-done and thoughtful.
The asshole academy teacher who starts Stephie's spiral into fear of failure by seeming to think she's not good enough actually thinks she's exceptionally talented and was doing tough love that backfired. Very pleasingly, this comes out when Stephie finally tells her parents what's going on with her and all four of them have a meeting.
It turns out that Jenny's gift is for ballet while Stephie's is for musical theatre.
This book packs a lot into 148 pages, sketching out a complete life for Stephie beyond the academy, complete with brief but deft characterizations of her family, Jenny's family, teachers at Stephie's school which also has performance classes taught by an aging hippie with regrets, the boy she has a crush on, and actual professional theatres that might be hiring. The ending is a bit pat but overall it's well-done and thoughtful.
The asshole academy teacher who starts Stephie's spiral into fear of failure by seeming to think she's not good enough actually thinks she's exceptionally talented and was doing tough love that backfired. Very pleasingly, this comes out when Stephie finally tells her parents what's going on with her and all four of them have a meeting.
It turns out that Jenny's gift is for ballet while Stephie's is for musical theatre.
