Kisses and Croissants

Gr 7 Up–Mia is a talented 16-year-old ballerina with big dreams of winning an audition with the American Ballet Theatre. She’s just arrived in Paris for a competitive six-week ballet program. Her roommate is a dancer she knows from America and soon the two earn top spots in the program’s production of Swan Lake. Mia is a very serious dancer, but she quickly gets swept away in a romance with Louis, a charming French boy who happens to also be the son of her demanding ballet teacher. The two also get entangled in an art mystery connected with Mia’s family history that connects Degas, ballet, and Mia’s grandmother. The setting is the strongest part of this YA romance. Paris simply shines; readers’ senses will come alive with all the city has to offer. French words are woven into the text seamlessly. The romance and ballet drama is predictable, but most readers probably won’t mind.