Instructions for Dancing

Starred review from April 19, 2021
After her parents’ divorce, romance enthusiast Evie Thomas, 17, swears off love. Donating the last of her romance book collection in the process, she comes across a neighborhood library box and a mysterious woman who encourages her to take a book for herself. Evie doesn’t think much of the volume, Instruc-tions for Dancing, but realizes that something strange is occurring when she sees her sister, Danica, kissing her boyfriend, and has a vision of both how they got together and how they’ll break up. After Evie sees the romantic fates of other kissing couples, her best friend urges her to visit the “please return to” address in the book—the La Brea Dance studio. There, Evie is sucked in by the magnetic owners, fiery instructor Fifi and the owners’ grandson, X, and is persuaded to join the LA Danceball competition to help the studio gain clients. With X as her partner, she learns the steps to leading with her heart. With deadpan humor, realistically wrought relationships among the Black principal cast, and a well-executed fantastical element, Yoon (Everything, Everything) delivers a story of love’s unpredictability and the importance of perspective that unfolds with ease and heart. Ages 12–up. Agents: Sara Shandler and Joelle Hobeika, Alloy Entertainment.