dancergirl

Great - deserves a read!

Ali has a passion for dance, a passion that soon leads her into danger as she gains the attention of the public. Some people envy her, others idolise her and some people take their admiration for Dancergirl to an obsessive level. The author, Carol M. Tanzman, does a wonderful job at introducing something refreshing and new into the already very populated young-adult scene. It's a bold move introducing something with as much originality as Dancergirl has, but it certainly paid off.

There is a big dance element incorparated into the novel with certain dance terms that two weeks worth of ballet did not help me identify. Although this can seem a bit troublesome, it didn't really bother. Their are two options; read past them and draw up your own definition or do a quick google search. As I mentioned before, it really doesn't take much away from the story. The love Ali has for dance is admirable and I can see people signing up for dance lessons after reading this book. If your not a fan of dancing that's not a big problem as there is many other elements to the book. What


I didn't realize was that mysetry plays a big part on this book. Tanzman manages to engage the readers and take them on a journey complete with potential culprits and paranoia. As Ali gets more and more paranoid, so do the readers. Everyone has the person who they believe is watching Ali but if you guess it first you deserve some kind of special recognition because it's so well hidden. 3/4 in I had by suscpions about the real offender but the wonderful thing about the book is your never sure.


All the characters seem very real, like any other normal group of friends. Samantha, the rich 'perfect' type, was not and instant like to me. I found her a bit cliche' but at the end she does something that I think ws pretty shocking for her. Shocking in a good way. The book really highlights how people have different sides and it takes something dramatic to bring it out of them. A favourite of mine is Ali's guy friend, Jacy, who has a habit of falling over which may seem funny untill he reveals why which is quite upsetting.


This book makes the readers aware of all the danger that surrounds the internet. Publicising internet awarness in the form of a young-adult is a perfect way to highlight it. The novel doesn't say 'don't do this and 'don't do that' but it does make the reader wary about what actually goes on on the net. This book is actually quite scary, reading when your at home alone in the dark is certainly not advisable.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Eye-opening.

Creepy, realistic, eye opening.

These are the three things I thought of when I read this book. A friend of Ali's decides one day to videotape her while she's dancing and then posts it to Zube (the equivalent of youtube is my guess).

Within days the video goes viral and "dancergirl" as she's known in the video, becomes famous. She's suddenly popular in school and everyone seems to know who she is.

One night, Ali is practicing her solo in her bedroom, while not fully dressed. Suddenly a video of that appears on the internet.

Ali starts suspecting everyone, even her best friend Jacy, who is MIA through the first part of the book.

I had a lot of guesses as to who I thought it was, but I was dead wrong.

This book seriously made me start questioning how much I put out on the internet about myself. And then I started to simultaneously feel bad for those people who have had videos taken of them for doing stupid things and those are viral. I never thought of the after effects of those videos going up.

This was a fabulous book and one that I think sends an important message to readers; be careful with what you put out on the internet.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Scary good

I liked this book because there was more of a mystery element involved and that really kept my attention.
Alicia wanted one thing...to graduate and to get a scholarship to Julliard to dance professionaly. Shes even working part time at the local dance studio so she can take classes there in trade. And by all accounts, shes really well on her way, but then one day a classmate takes a video of her as she dances at a party. The video goes viral and everyone who sees it really thinks she has talent. But then it starts to become a problem....and she gets a stalker. That stalker even shoots a video of her dancing...in her room...in her undies! That part of the book really gives you a case of the 'ewws' but then it gets worse. With the help of her friends, they start looking to see who might be the stalker. A few wrong turns happen until they start getting the pieces to fit together and they find the right one, but not the kinda person you would think could do this crime.
This isnt a new book in the genre, and there are alot of books that show the Internet has some bad sides and stuff. But this book is nice because it is not preachy, but still gets the point across.
Its a fast read and like Hercule Poirot might say, "A problem that will aggitate the little grey cells most adequetely"

Review from MajiBookshelf Blog

The beginning of dancergirl was a bit slow and confusing, especially with her best friend Jacy and the characters not being introduced clearly to us. However the story finally took off, with Ali's dancergirl videos and the emerging of a peeping tom/stalker.
Alicia, Ali, who is our female protagonist is a contemporary dancer. The dancergirl videos started because one of her classmates "Charlie" videotaped her while she dances. The videos went viral; enters the stalker. I wasn't that happy with Ali's personality. She was persuaded too easily and she never confronted Jacy about his withdrawn behavior towards her. Especially towards the end, some of her decisions got me screaming "NO!! DON'T DO IT!"

However I loved the unpredictable-ness of who the stalker might be. One time it was this person, the other it was that person. Each with their own motives and then a tight alibi that removes them from the suspect list. Ali and her friends had to turn on their investigative intuitions and start playing detective to figure out who is the stalker. The identity of the stalker was honestly a shock to me. I didn't, in the least bit, expect it and im so happy for that!

The writing was simple, easy, nothing too complicated that takes you outside of the story while you're trying to figure out what the author meant by it. yes the beginning was a bit confusing, but 50 pages in, and i was hooked. This is a great contemporary, light thriller book. It's a nice change from the usual contemporary romance novels. I would definitely recommend it to any reader looking for a bit of a thrill in their books.

Really Good!

I loved this book and it took only a few hrs to read. Its creepy and suspenseful but really entertaining!

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.