Pirouette

Hannah loves ballet, and Simone wishes she could quit. After they meet at an Australian dance camp and discover they look and sound identical (they quickly figure out that were both adopted from the same Brazilian orphanage in 1997), they decide to swap lives%E2%80%94Hannah so she can dance like she's always dreamed, and Simone so she can have the break from ballet she craves. Australian author Bavati's (Dancing in the Dark) novel speaks both to young dancers who can relate to Hannah's sheer joy for ballet and her endless energy to practice and perform, as well as to those who will understand Simone's jaded attitude, due to her professional training and the accompanying pressure. Even readers less personally invested in dance can appreciate Bavati's treatment of newly discovered sisterhood and the twins' Parent Trap%E2%80%93like scheme. The author takes several potent fantasies%E2%80%94to dance professionally, to have a new sibling, and to swap lives with someone else for a while%E2%80%94and plays up the tension all three create through the escalating complications in her protagonists' lives. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. (Nov.)