STARRED REVIEW! "The inspirational life of ballerina Alicia Alonso is shared with young readers in this lovingly illustrated beginning biography. The illustrations excellently depict Alicia's dedication as well as the difficulties with her eyesight and will inspire readers to chase their dreams amid challenges and struggles."—School Library Journal starred review Alicia Alonso wouldn't let her vision impairment keep her from dancing. As a young girl in Cuba, Alicia Alonso practiced ballet in tennis shoes. Within a few years, she was in New York City, with a promising ballet career. But her eyesight began to fail. When Alicia needed surgeries to save her vision, dancing was impossible, but she wouldn't give up her dream. She found the strength and determination to return to the stage and become a prima ballerina. This is the true story of a woman who overcame her challenges, mastered her art, and inspired others to dance and dream.

Presents a supplemented, book-length interview with the founding figure of the Cuban National Ballet and an advocate for bringing ballet to the masses in the wake of the Cuban Revolution of 1959.

Just as Russian dancers defected from the former Soviet Union in the 1970s, Cuban dancers are now fleeing Castro's regime in droves. Their unique style of ballet is galvanizing the world of dance. This beautifully illustrated book explores the history of Cuban ballet by focusing on the life and career of the indomitable Alicia Alonso. The author also spotlights many of the young dancers who are now part of the growing Cuban Diaspora and who are changing the face of ballet: Lorena Feijoo, Lorna Feijoo, Joan Boada, Taras Domitro, Jose Manuel Carreno, and Carlos Acosta to name but a few.

From America’s number one Cuba reporter, PEN award–winning investigative journalist Ann Louise Bardach, comes the big book on Cuba we’ve all been waiting for. An incisive and spirited portrait of the twentieth century’s wiliest political survivor and his fiefdom, Cuba Confidential is the gripping story of the shattered families and warring personalities that lie at the heart of the forty-three-year standoff between Miami and Havana. Famous to many Americans for her cover stories and media appearances, Ann Louise Bardach has been covering Cuba for a decade. She’s talked to the crooks, spooks and politicians who have made history, and to their hired assassins and confidants. Based on exclusive interviews with Fidel Castro, his sister Juanita, his former brother-in-law Rafael Díaz-Balart, the family of Elián González, the friends and family of the legendary American fugitive Robert Vesco, the intrepid terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, and the inner circles of Jeb Bush and the late exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa, Cuba Confidential exposes the hardball take-no-prisoners tactics of the Cuban exile leadership, and its manipulation and exploitation by ten American presidents. Bardach homes in on Fidel Castro and his cronies, taking us closer than we’ve ever been—and on the militant exiles who have devoted their lives, with CIA connivance, to trying to eliminate him. From Calle Ocho to Juan Miguel González’s kitchen table in Cárdenas, from Guantánamo Bay to Union City to Washington, D.C., Ann Louise Bardach serves up an unforgettable portrait of Cuba and its exiles.

The lens of dance can provide a multifaceted view of the present-day Cuban experience. Cuban contemporary dance, or tecnica cubana as it is known throughout Latin America, is a highly evolved hybrid of ballet, North American modern dance, Afro-Cuban tradition, flamenco and Cuban nightclub cabaret. Unlike most dance forms, tecnica was created intentionally with government backing. For Cuba, a dancing country, it was natural--and highly effective--for the Revolutionary regime to link national image with the visceral power of dance. Written by a dancer who traveled and worked in Cuba from the 1970s to the present, this book provides an inside look at daily life in Cuba. From watching the great Alicia Alonso, to describing the economic trials of the 1990s "Special Period," the author uses history, humor, personal experience, rich description and extensive interviews to reveal contemporary life and dance in Cuba.

A 2021 NATIONAL PARENTING PRODUCT AWARDS WINNER! From the creators of the bestselling Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series. An irresistible collection of five chapter books about the real lives of five extraordinary women throughout history, including Ada Lovelace, Madam C. J. Walker, Dr. Wangari Maathai, Junko Tabei, and Alicia Alonso. This hardcover boxed set includes: Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code Madam C. J. Walker Builds a Business Dr. Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest Junko Tabei Masters the Mountains Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage This gorgeous hardcover boxed set is the perfect gift to inspire any young reader. It contains five individual, historical fiction chapter books, each exploring the life and times of an extraordinary woman in global history. Readers will meet Ada Lovelace—a nineteenth-century pioneer in computer science; Madam C. J. Walker—an early leader in the African American beauty industry; Dr. Wangari Maathai—an environmental warrior and Nobel Peace Prize winner from Kenya; Junko Tabei—a champion in mountaineering who became the first woman to summit Mount Everest; and Alicia Alonso—a prima ballerina and remarkable creator in the world of dance. Each stunningly designed chapter book features at least ten full-color illustrations from a female artist, as well as bonus activities in the backmatter to encourage kids to explore the various fields in which each of these women thrived.