Glass Slippers Give You Blisters

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7 Against the backdrop of a school musical production and accompanying stagecraft skills, Auch unfolds a solid story of pre-teen friendships and developing self-awareness. Kelly MacDonald persuades her two best friends, as they all begin sixth grade at the junior high school, to try out with her for parts in the play Cinderella. Rebecca makes the chorus and Lisa is given a leading role, but Kelly bombs out. Her grandmother, a free-spirited artist, encourages Kelly to direct her abilities toward set designing, but Janet, a despicable ninth grader, thwarts that attempt. As circumstances have it, Kelly and classmate Michael end up with the responsibility for all lighting arrangements. Quick studies, they are successful in transforming Janet's flat gray sets into magically rosy ones and the show is a smash. Even Kelly's mother, adamantly opposed to her daughter's theatrical and artistic inclinations, is proud of her. Through Kelly, she and Gram come to a better understanding of each other after years of constant arguing. Kelly herself is learning to develop her true talents, to put feet to her daydreams, and to avoid the ill-fitting "glass slipper." Katharine Bruner, Brown Middle School, Harrison, Tenn.