Book Spotlight: The Turning Point by, Vanessa L. Torres

The Turning Pointe
by Vanessa L Torres
Published by Knopf
Releasing on March 8, 2022
YA Historical Fiction

A bold and emotionally gripping novel about a teenage Latinx girl finding freedom through dance and breaking expectations in 1980s Minnesota.

When sixteen-year-old Rosa Dominguez pirouettes, she is poetry in pointe shoes. And as the daughter of a tyrant ballet Master, Rosa seems destined to become the star principal dancer of her studio. But Rosa would do anything for one hour in the dance studio upstairs where Prince, the Purple One himself, is in the house.

After her father announces their upcoming auditions for a concert with Prince, Rosa is more determined than ever to succeed. Then Nikki–the cross-dressing, funky boy who works in the dance shop–leaps into her life. Weighed down by family expectations, Rosa is at a crossroads, desperate to escape so she can show everyone what she can do when freed of her pointe shoes. Now is her chance to break away from a life in tulle, grooving to that unmistakable Minneapolis sound reverberating through every bone in her body.

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Vanessa L. Torres is former dancer and an author of books for young readers. She loves to read anything with a vivid setting, but there’s a special place in her heart for urban tales. She was born and raised in Minneapolis Minnesota, and now lives in Olympia Washington with her husband and daughter. When she’s not writing, she balances her time between anything outdoors, and her other job as a firefighter/paramedic. And when the snow hits, you might catch a glimpse of her ski patrolling on the mountain.

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