The Maddie Diaries: My Story

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The Competition is Maddie Ziegler's 3 and final book the audition trilogy and her 4th book overall. The crowd is going wild! The audience is chanting: “Harper! Harper!” My mother’s voice in particular stands out from the crowd. I knew my mom got nervous for me too. I did appreciate my mom. Not only did she drive me to the studio practically every day, she had to do things like hot-glue thousands of rhinestones on competition costumes at the last minute and sew my hair into bizarre headpieces with feathers or things while I yelped in pain. At DanceStarz studio, there was a group of three girls known as the Bunheads. Harper knew if they would accept her, life would be so much easier on this dance team, but the truth was, it was probably easier to swallow glass. Fortunately, with time the Bunheads realize that they have no choice but to work together as a true team. And yes, that included Harper. There was no other choice if they want to beat their rivals and formal teammates who had left DanceStarz for the rival team earlier in the year.

This book focuses on how Harper and her new friends at Dance Starz head to New York for a competition, they will be once again going head to head with The Belles. There's also something else though, Harper is going face to face with her old teammates. The book is about a girl named Harper who loves to dance just like Maddie. Harper also has a little sister just like Maddie does. She has been dancing since she was two years old and made many friends along the way. But one day, her dad got a new job in Florida, which means they have to move there from there small town in Connecticut. Harper was really sad for awhile but she knew this was good for her family. Harper now worries about finding a new dance studio that will accept her and being able to fit in if she gets accepted. She tries out at a dance studio called Dancestars and the rest, well I guess you'll have to read to find out if she gets accepted. The Dear Maddie section seemed a little fake. Were those actual teens asking for advice and was that actually Maddie writing the advice? Either way, I thought the answers were level headed and helpful. I thought the in between sections moved the story alone nicely. (Dear Maddie, notes from her friends and family, and Today is a Beautiful Day To...) I just finished The Audition, by Julia Rozines DeVillers and Maddie Ziegler, and it was such a good book. The Audition is about a girl named Harper who has been dancing her whole life, but suddenly moves from Connecticut to Florida. There she joins a new dance studio and gets on the advanced competition team with only four other girls. There she meets three girls who have been dancing together their whole life, but one other new girl. Although at first the other girls aren’t very accepting of her, they soon become friends.Thankfully, something that doesn’t happen often, Hailey who is Harper’s little sister was actually not too annoying! Just sometimes. 😛 What a cute start to a new trilogy. Harper is new to town and looking to not only join a dance studio, but land a spot on their competition team. Change is hard, especially when you don’t know anyone and you are dancing with a group who has been together for years.

Oops. I was spacing out. I let go of the piece of hair I was twisting from my ponytail. I wasn’t onstage at a competition, amazing the audience. I wasn’t even on a competition team—yet. I was sitting in a new chair, in a new dance studio, waiting to audition for a totally new competition team. Even if you have little to no experience with the dance world Ziegler provides enough that you can still enjoy the plot, follow along with the characters and not get lost in the minutie. She even delves into the relationships between mothers and their dancers; everyone loves seeing moms trying to live through their kids. My hand flew to the top of my head to smooth any wispies that might have escaped my tight ponytail. I wanted this audition to go perfectly, and that included the details that could distract the judges, like flyaway hair.One thing that I really liked about The Audition, was that I really connected with and understand what Harper was going through. I’m not part of a competition team that is made up of the best dancers, but I just moved from New York to Virginia. In New York, I left my friends, and my dance studio that I loved. I recently started at a new dance studio in Virginia, and went through a lot of what Harper goes through. I was jealous of how good the other girls in my class were, I didn’t understand certain things that they talked about or certain jokes. In this New York Times bestselling memoir, the incredibly talented breakout star of Dance Moms and judge on So You Think You Can Dance brings her uplifting coming-of-age story about following her dreams and working hard to achieve success in both the dance world and in life. I’m just kidding!” Hailey laughed. “Please. Like Harper didn’t use half a can of hairspray this morning.” This book was also super suspenseful! Not suspenseful in the same way as a fantasy or mystery novel is, but I couldn’t put it down. I read the whole book in about a day in a half just because I didn’t want to put it down! It's got some good morals when it comes to teamwork and the book values friendship considerably, it's short and a bit predictable and I'm not in the middle-grade target age (just a little bit out of it) and could still overlook this and enjoy. If parents worry about kids reading inappropriate books or smutty books, they can be rest assured that this book is appropriate.