My Seventh Grade Life in Tights
by Brooks Benjamin
Published on April 12th 2016
by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Genres: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Format: Hardcover
Source: Won in giveaway
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LIVE IT.
All Dillon wants is to be a real dancer. And if he wins a summer scholarship at Dance-Splosion, he’s on his way. The problem? His dad wants him to play football. And Dillon’s freestyle crew, the Dizzee Freekz, says that dance studios are for sellouts. His friends want Dillon to kill it at the audition—so he can turn around and tell the studio just how wrong their rules and creativity-strangling ways are.
WORK IT.
At first, Dillon’s willing to go along with his crew’s plan, even convincing one of the snobbiest girls at school to work with him on his technique. But as Dillon’s dancing improves, he wonders: what if studios aren’t the enemy? And what if he actually has a shot at winning the scholarship?
BRING IT.
Dillon’s life is about to get crazy . . . on and off the dance floor.
Well now I’m exhausted. I feel like I’ve just finished a dance marathon. My condition is the worst too so that makes me even more exhausted. But in a good way. Do I even make sense now? Probably not. Whatever. THIS BOOK WAS GREAT, is what I’m saying.
I was kinda scared of starting it, to be honest? Because I’ve heard nothing but good things and I was pretty hyped for it. And then I won a copy and the author is, like, the nicest guy ever. I felt so much pressure on me, seriously. What if I hated this? What if I didn’t like it and had to write a negative review? It’d be the worst. BUT I DIDN’T. I freaking loved it. SO VERY MUCH. I was hooked from the start. The writing was perfect and the story was… I wanna say triumphant? Because that’s how I feel now, after finishing it. I was right there with Dillon and the Dizzee Freekz the whole time. Like I was part of them. I was happy when he was happy. I was sad when he was sad. I was synced up to all his emotions and hopes and dreams. It’s such a great feeling when you connect with a character 100%.
If I had to point out one thing that… irked me, I guess? But not really in a bad way. It’s just that sometimes Kassie’s reason for her plan seemed really childish at first, but then I got the full story from her side and it didn’t anymore. But for a while their actions seemed childish, but then I reminded myself this is middle grade and they are all like, twelve, so of course they’re childish sometimes. I tend to forget the age of these kids in middle grade books because SO much happens in their lives and it makes them feel older than they are because really, what did you do when you were twelve? I was at home reading and writing silly poems and playing video games. I never went out there to fight Greek gods or defeat an evil wizard. Real life is annoyingly normal and boring. So it was really strange and refreshing to get a set of characters that actually just acts their age. So it’s not really a negative thing in hindsight.
I really do need to talk about the characters for a bit too. Because they’re always the most important to me and I really, really loved all of them. I loved all the Dizzee Freekz. Kassie, Carson and Austin were all awesome and unique in their own ways. And I loved getting to know them more and more as the story went on. I liked the small romance that bloomed between Kassie and Dillon and it was all very very slow and way in the background and very innocent too. Just like it should be. I also liked Sarah. Not too much at first, but more and more as I got to know her better. I already mentioned how I connected with Dillon, so no need to say that again. He’s just a really great character that I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know in this book. I kind of want more of him and his ninja freestyle. One thing that stood out to me was this sideplot kind of with one of his teammates from football, DeMarcus. I really liked his story, even though he was just a side character! It brought diversity to the story and I kind of want a companion book or something about him. I really want to get to know him more.
Phew, okay. So if you’re a fan of middle grade books, this one should be way up there on your TBR. I’ve read a few MG contemporary books new and I’ve learned that I need to read more of them because they’re all SO amazing. My Seventh Grade Life in Tights was everything I hoped it would be and more. It’s an amazing story about friendship and being yourself and, well, to quote the book “find the moves that fit”.
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Twitter: Jeann Wong
Even though this one is MG, it definitely feels like it has a lot of depth to it Bee! Reading your review, I wouldn’t have known that the characters were only 12. Lovely review!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Thanks! It certainly did. 🙂
I love a good character driven novel, and that’s pretty rare to see in the middle grade genre – at least in my experience. Glad this book was a win for you! (I feel you with writing review, though. Sometimes it IS hard to write a negative one, especially if the author gave it to you to review specifically.)
Lovely review!
Brittany @ http://www.spacebetweenthespines.com/
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
I’ve read a few good character driven books int he MG genre so far! All of them great. Yes it is! Though I won this book in a giveaway, I know the author, so I’m ecstatic that I loved his book! 😀