What Worked? I loved the book, and I don't think it could have been written better. The readers learn about teamwork, friendships, hard work, determination and so much more throughout the story. I loved that Harper was so understanding when she had to give up her home, friends, and dance studio for her dads new job that's a tough thing to do and she handled it so well. Yeah, nobody's taking Harper's spot," Lily declared. "Harper is one of the best dancers in the whole studio."

Something that was different in this book, and that enjoyed, was that Maddie Ziegler and Julia Rozines DeVillers used real dance terminology. They didn’t just say “she turned” or “she jumped.” They used “pirouettes” or “jetés.” Usually in dance books they don’t use terminology, so they don’t confuse the reader if the reader isn’t a dancer. I’m just kidding!” Hailey laughed. “Please. Like Harper didn’t use half a can of hairspray this morning.” It's a middle grade but for a middle grade, I didn't mind the writing and I can see why people think it cheesy but cheesy books are good, it also can be viewed as that because of the reviewer's age, we have to take into consideration what the age target is. I'm not flunking English," I said, slimming my yogurt down on the table. "And I'm not giving up my spot." 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!I took every class they offered: ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary. I loved lyrical and contemporary the most, felt confident with my technique in ballet classes, and did tumbling and hip-hop for fun and to help with my routines. Thank you @kidlitexchange for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. Spontaneous twirling was completely optional. The Audition by Maddie Ziegler, is about the protagonist, Harper McCoy, a dancer, she has been dancing since she can walk. She lives in Connecticut and she was one of the best dancers at her studio, but sadly her dad was transferred to Florida. She has to start off with a new dance studio and she has to make all new friends. She makes a great friend Lily and starts to become closer with her other teammates “The Bunheads,” Trina, Megan, and Riley. She has to prove to her teammates that she was worth adding to the competition team. Will she ever be accepted or will she always be an outsider? This book was very interesting for me because I am a dancer and understand what it is like to go and change to a different dance studio. I really enjoyed The Audition because I watched the show Dance Moms where the author, Maddie Ziegler, was the star dancer. The subject and author interested me into the book, especially I was curious to find out her style of writing. She used a lot of humor and excitement. Being a 15 year old who has inspired me almost my whole life, I was happy and excited that I was able to read this book. I was curious to think maybe this was her own story and part of it happened in her life. When I finished the book I said to myself, “Wow I hope there’s a sequel because I love these characters so much.” They were just so like me. I felt the story was especially strong in the area of where they have to do a dance in a parade and that is the time where she will prove herself worthy. Teen dance prodigy, breakout Dance Moms star , and judge on So You Think You Can The Next Generation presents her uplifting coming-of-age memoir about following her dreams and working hard to achieve success in both the dance world and in life. 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.

I also liked the letters from others who know and have worked with her. I personally did not care for the Dear Maddie sections and could have done without these. However; I love the Today is a Beautiful Day entries. 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. I was surprised to see that Maddie wrote a book. I hate to judge but I didn’t think it would be that great. She is young like me. I don’t know that I would be able to write but her talent for writing blew me out of the water!Dance Moms is my guilty pleasure and I am a total fan girl when it comes to the show and the girls on the show. It does not matter that I am much older, I still just enjoyed the show. I was so excited when this arrived in the mail today (thank you Gallery Books) that I immediately started to read it. Teen dance prodigy, breakout Dance Moms star, and judge on So You Think you Can Dance: The Next Generation, Maddie Ziegler presents her uplifting coming-of-age memoir about following her dreams and working hard to achieve success in both the dance world and in life. As the story progresses we see that things are improving, slowly, with Megan and the other two girls. We do see that while Megan has a mean streak, she is actually quite nice. She just doesn’t show it a lot. I would recommend she does though. 😛 It is Trina who is the sweetest out of the trio and the one who is the most eager to just be friends with Harper. I was definitely happy that it wasn’t the whole story with Megan being a mean girl. I am not sure if I would have rated it this high if it was. For now it was tolerable + with the change in Megan the story only became better. Plus, they formed a front against those ubermeanies The Bells.

Have you just had too much on your plate and you have overextended yourself? Along with school you have so many things going on after school and you are just worn out? This is exactly what Harper has done. She is still fairly new to Florida and her dance academy, Dance Starz, and still trying to make sure that she is meant to be on the competitive team. Her team consist of Megan, Lily, Trina, Riley, and Harper. They work together as a team, however, they are now about to compete against each other for the Dance Starz first ever solo on the competitive team. Megan is determine to make sure that the solo is hers and she will do whatever it takes to make it happen, even if it means lying and sabotaging her teammates. Not only does Harper have the stress of working on the solo and the competitive dance, she unintentionally finds herself in the school play. Harper accidentally falls asleep in English class because she is so stressed, when she explains to her teacher that is is because of her dance, her teachers puts her in the school play of The Little Mermaid to fill the gap of the only solo dance number. Harper does not need to add one more thing to her plate but as she begins going to practice she really enjoys making new friends. Will Harper adding so much more to her plate and making new friends hurt her relationship with her best friend, Lily? Will the school play take her focus off of her goal to nail the solo at Dance Starz? Will Megan get her way and force herself into the first solo? Don't miss this fun book written by Maddie Ziegler, one of the stars on Lifetime's Dance Moms and a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Meet Harper, a sweet girl who has had to move from her wonderful town and wonderful squad and friends to a new town. We see that she immediately is trying out for a new dance studio because this girl needs dancing in her life and her mom is totally supportive of her. I was immediately a fan of Harper, she was such a sweet and wonderful girl and I loved how hard she worked and seeing how much she loves dancing (a whole lot). 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.

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All in all, I had plenty of fun reading this one. It is filled with friendship, fun, sparkles, and dancing. I will definitely have to see if I can find the other two books in the series. As long as they feature Harper as MC and haven’t switched to the other girls. Don’t get me wrong, I like the other girls, but I just want Harper the most as a MC. I looked around the reception area as I waited. There was a huge DanceStarz logo above the main desk. DanceStarz colors were pink, white, and gold, which I had to admit looked pretty cool. DanceStarz was much brighter than my old studio, with white walls and huge floor-to-ceiling windows. (It was particularly strange to look out the window and see palm trees.) I walk onto the stage, my toes pointed, my head held high. I get into my opening pose and the music begins. Five . . . six . . . seven . . . eight!