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OLDER FICTION
Popescu, Simina

Leap

304 pp. | Roaring Brook | November, 2024 | Trade ISBN 9781250838292 $24.99 | Paper ISBN 9781250838308 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781250838471 $11.99
(2) YA This coming-of-age graphic novel follows Ana and Sara, roommates and students at an elite high school for dance in Bucharest, Romania. Ana is secretly dating Carina, a passionate but selfish ballerina; as Ana's devotion to Carina intensifies, she jeopardizes her future at the school. But does she even still love dancing? Meanwhile, Sara gradually realizes that her feelings of admiration and gratitude toward her empathetic (and much older) female instructor, Marlena, are actually a crush. As Sara grapples with her sexual identity, she wonders if she should tell Marlena how she feels. Throughout their personal challenges, Ana and Sara support and encourage each other, and although the semester ends in heartbreak for both, it also brings a deeper bond and a sense of possibility. The graphic format is a good match for its visual subject matter: a sense of movement is pervasive throughout, and panels with close-ups of the girls' faces effectively convey their emotions. Most of the digital illustrations are drawn in black against backgrounds of dusky, balletic pink or bluish-gray (to differentiate flashbacks); as a result, the very occasional full-color pages, often depicting dance sequences, have maximum impact. Set against a vivid boarding-school backdrop, this is an emotionally charged story of self-expression, self-discovery, and friendship.
Reviewer: Rachel L. Kerns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

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