A new one for the all time favourites folder!

This is beautiful.
I already knew I loved Alvarez' illustration style but this is another level.
The grown up versions of the children (especially the ballet) made me positively gasp. The little faces the kids pull when they're concentrating, the realistic shapes of their bodies and hair in movement. Just perfect. Exactly my style.

Aside from its beautiful message of resilience, practice, and striving towards your goals, one of favourite parts of this book is its honest, beautiful and perfectly natural range of representation - both literally in its diverse range of characters, but also in its representation of who does what hobbies, and even the range of those hobbies themselves.

I needed this message as a child, and I certainly still need it now.
I will 100% have this on my shelf. I will use it in classes. And I will read it to myself when I need to remember.