How It Feels to Fly

April 1, 2016
Samantha dreams of becoming a professional ballerina like her mom, but her body is changing into one that the ballet world will not accept. Sam is a truly talented and well-trained dancer, but when the white teen looks at her developing body, she sees fat rolls and thick thighs. She begins having panic attacks, so her mother sends her to a therapeutic camp designed to help teens who perform in some way. There, she tries to avoid eating too much but constantly succumbs. She soon begins to fall for one of the camp counselors, Andrew, even though he's clearly off limits. Between hours with the camp's psychologist director and Andrew's sympathy, Sam begins to make some progress with her self-image, until her attraction to Andrew reaches critical. When another girl tempts her into escaping so she can keep her spot in an upcoming ballet program, things go awry, but the experience also offers her a road to the future. Through Sam's present-tense narration, Holmes concentrates on demonstrating the benefits of therapy, dissecting Samantha's emotions and depicting her increasing strength in overcoming her traumas and her difficult relationship with her obsessive mother. The book winds up as almost a paean to clinical psychology, but it should resonate with driven readers and those with their own body issues. Less about ballet than about therapy, but interesting nevertheless. (Fiction. 12-18)

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May 1, 2016

Gr 7 Up-Summer camp gets a whole new spin in this tale about the denizens of a performance camp. Samantha's physical development threatens to destroy her love of and future in ballet. She considers herself fat, and food is her enemy. Holmes uses flashbacks to give background information on Samantha's family's dynamics, and the protagonist's overbearing mother is at the root of her problems. Constant negative self-talk becomes less present as Sam learns to make her own choices at the camp for artists with anxiety issues. The well-developed characters attending the session are talented and highly skilled in their areas of performance. Some of the other campers include a celebrated football player, an ice-skating champion, and a tennis star. The internal challenges they face are varied and universal. Readers will recognize their speed bumps and find a character to identify with. Realistic dialogue and descriptions make it possible for teens to become flies on the wall as the fast-paced plot unfolds. The protagonists grow through their struggles individually and eventually learn to support one another. The author adeptly shows even the camp counselors as works in progress. A gentle, misunderstood romance between Sam and one of her counselors develops only as far as a forbidden kiss. Throughout the camp experiences, Holmes plants themes of self-worth, empathy, and persistence.

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