Sunday, May 8, 2016

Novel in Verse, A TIme to Dance : Kelsey



 Novel in Verse -Kelsey
A Time to Dance
Venkatraman, P. (2014). A Time to Dance. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Venkatraman writes a story about a young girl named Veda taking place in India. Veda is a young girl who wants nothing more than to be a famous dancer. In the beginning of the story she is a competitive dancer of the traditional Bharatnatyam which is a classical dance style in India. Veda feels a rush as she receives applause and lives for the pride she has after she dances. Early in the story; however, her world comes crashing down around her. Veda is not able to dance anymore after an accident cripples her and forces her leg to be amputated. Veda begins to sink into a depression over the loss of her limb. She is pulled out of this depression by a doctor who has faith that with prosthesis he can get her moving again. In time Veda is able to learn a very important lesson about what dance really is and the aspects of dance she should truly value. Veda learns to love herself for more than her ability to dance. By the end of the story Veda is teaching young children how to dance and she has found a person that she truly cares for. Veda has learned to appreciate others and has been humbled by her experiences.

            This story has a great ability of helping young people to understand that any circumstance can help us to grow and become better people. This is also a great piece to use in a variety of classes. There is certainly another culture that can be learned about in the story. In addition students can learn a lot from the use of poetry to help the narrative flow. As students who struggle with reading use this text they will be better able to get a lot of information in a small amount of text. There is also a lot to be said in this book for character development. Students could learn a great deal about haw characters can evolve and change in a story. The study of other cultures would be greatly beneficial because of the references made to so many Indian customs and beliefs. This book could be used while learning about the culture of India and history of the country. 

No comments:

Post a Comment