The Maddie Diaries: My Story

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There are a lot of typos but the plot was really interesting. Megan was really mean it would be nice to see more character development by the end of the series. Meet Harper, a sweet girl who has had to move from her wonderful town and wonderful squad and friends to a new town. We see that she immediately is trying out for a new dance studio because this girl needs dancing in her life and her mom is totally supportive of her. I was immediately a fan of Harper, she was such a sweet and wonderful girl and I loved how hard she worked and seeing how much she loves dancing (a whole lot). Twelve-year-old Harper has been dancing practically since she could walk. She loves her dance studio and team, and just won her first ever top junior solo in a regional competition. But right before the school year starts, Harper’s parents drop a bombshell—the family has to relocate from their cozy town in Connecticut to sunny Florida for their jobs. That means goodbye to her friends, dance team, trips to see shows in NYC—and did she mention dance team? Harper!” The woman working the front desk called my name. “Vanessa will see you in fifteen minutes. You may get ready and stretch in Studio C. It’s the first door on the left down the corridor.” It reminded me a bit of the spirit from the Bring it On movie series only about dancing instead of cheerleading. She provides lots of details so you get a feel for how dance classes go along with their competitions, types of costumes and the intense rivalry that is created under these circumstances.

The Audition by Maddie Ziegler takes readers inside the world of competitive dance, revealing the stamina, athleticism, creativity and more required to stand out. Dancers often start out when they are very young, and they learn multiple styles even though they may excel at one. The world is very familiar to author Ziegler, who is an award-winning professional dancer and who starred on Lifetime’s Dance Moms for six seasons.Oh, no!” My eight-year-old sister, Hailey, dramatically fake-gasped and pointed at me from the couch across from me. “It’s the apocalypse! Harper has . . . wispies!”

I did think it was funny that the mean girl trio (or at least Megan is the meanie) were of the standard trope. We had the mean bossy girl (Megan), the jealous third wheel (Riley), and the sweet ditz (Trina). I just think it is hilarious that so many mean girl trios are made up out of this. Dance Moms is my guilty pleasure and I am a total fan girl when it comes to the show and the girls on the show. It does not matter that I am much older, I still just enjoyed the show. I was so excited when this arrived in the mail today (thank you Gallery Books) that I immediately started to read it. I’m standing just offstage, waiting for my big moment.I know my mom and dance teacher are in the audience, holding their breath in anticipation. This will be the most challenging dance I’ve ever performed—not only that but the most challenging dance anyone at DanceStarz Academy has ever performed. There’s a lot of pressure on me. What if you lived a happy life in Connecticut with your family and you were the top of your class at your dance studio, winning all kinds of awards? What if you found out that your dad got transferred to Florida and the closest dance studio was DanceStarz, a highly competitive dance studio? Will you fit in and be accepted by your new teammates? Well, this is exactly what happens to Harper McCoy. She is used to being the "top dog" at her dance studio in Connecticut, but when she makes the competitive dance team at DanceStarz her new teammates are not so willing to take her in. Harper learns to rely on her family and her new friend, Lily, who is also new to the team. It takes a while for this group of three girls, the Bunheads, to accept their new teammates, but they learn that they have to work together if they want to beat their rivals and former friends, Energii. All of the girls learn about friendship, deception, trust, and teamwork.In this inspirational memoir, Maddie explains the hard work she put in to her rise to stardom and how she keeps her balance along the way - starring in music videos, going on tour and becoming an actress in The Book of Henry, with Naomi Watts and Jacob Tremblay. She also answers her fans' burning questions with wise advice she's learned on her journey. Okay, maybe that sounded overly dramatic. But dancing was my life. The dance studio had been my second home since I was two years old. My mom always said that when I was really little, I would dress up like a fairy princess or a butterfly and jump and twirl around and break things, so she signed me up for a little-kid ballet class to get rid of all that energy. I’d been at that studio ever since. I knew my mom got nervous for me too. I did appreciate my mom. Not only did she drive me to the studio practically every day, she had to do things like hot-glue thousands of rhinestones on competition costumes at the last minute and sew my hair into bizarre headpieces with feathers or things while I yelped in pain. Even if you have little to no experience with the dance world Ziegler provides enough that you can still enjoy the plot, follow along with the characters and not get lost in the minutie. She even delves into the relationships between mothers and their dancers; everyone loves seeing moms trying to live through their kids. My costume is amazing—beautifully detailed with thousands of sparkling rhinestones—my makeup is flawless, and my headpiece is sewn in tightly but not so tightly it will give me a screaming headache later.

Have you just had too much on your plate and you have overextended yourself? Along with school you have so many things going on after school and you are just worn out? This is exactly what Harper has done. She is still fairly new to Florida and her dance academy, Dance Starz, and still trying to make sure that she is meant to be on the competitive team. Her team consist of Megan, Lily, Trina, Riley, and Harper. They work together as a team, however, they are now about to compete against each other for the Dance Starz first ever solo on the competitive team. Megan is determine to make sure that the solo is hers and she will do whatever it takes to make it happen, even if it means lying and sabotaging her teammates. Not only does Harper have the stress of working on the solo and the competitive dance, she unintentionally finds herself in the school play. Harper accidentally falls asleep in English class because she is so stressed, when she explains to her teacher that is is because of her dance, her teachers puts her in the school play of The Little Mermaid to fill the gap of the only solo dance number. Harper does not need to add one more thing to her plate but as she begins going to practice she really enjoys making new friends. Will Harper adding so much more to her plate and making new friends hurt her relationship with her best friend, Lily? Will the school play take her focus off of her goal to nail the solo at Dance Starz? Will Megan get her way and force herself into the first solo? Don't miss this fun book written by Maddie Ziegler, one of the stars on Lifetime's Dance Moms and a judge on So You Think You Can Dance.

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I really liked the personal touches throughout this book. There are small doodles from Maddie and pictures from her being a small child up until now. These were nice touches. The message throughout this whole book is pretty positive, and I think Maddie really shows her pride in being a positive role model for her peers. I joined the precompetitive team when I was six and then made the junior competition team. Last year, I started getting solos—and winning with them. My BFFs were on the team with me, and we practiced together almost every day after school. From Dance Moms star and So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation judge Maddie Ziegler comes the first novel in a brand-new middle grade trilogy about friendship, dance, and going after your dreams. I took every class they offered: ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary. I loved lyrical and contemporary the most, felt confident with my technique in ballet classes, and did tumbling and hip-hop for fun and to help with my routines. The main character in the book is Harper. She is set and settled in her small town in Connecticut. A place where she was born and raised. She was happy there. When her father decides to take a job in Florida. At first, Harper has a hard time with the idea. Even once in Florida she has a hard time. Why? Because her favorite thing to do was dance. She had been with the same dance studio in Connecticut, since she was a little girl, and was considered the best of the best!