The Audition

Gr 4–6—Twelve-year-old Harper's has just moved to Florida and joined a new dance team in this first installment of a planned trilogy. Fans of reality TV's Dance Moms will be familiar with the ensuing drama, mean-girl bullying, and roller coaster of competing egos. No surprise there—Ziegler rose to fame on the show and penned a memoir about her dance experiences (The Maddie Diaries). Ziegler even writes herself into this fictional narrative: Harper mentions watching YouTube videos of the real-life Ziegler. Along with dance rehearsals are pillow fights, social media betrayal, triumph in the dance studio, and a subsequent embarrassing parade incident in front of a rival team. It all culminates in a dramatic dance-off. The story line is pretty formulaic, and though most of the characters are not terribly likeable, they do feel authentically tween-aged. Catty and self-absorbed characters decide they like each other just enough to work together at the last minute.