At the tender age of three she took her first dance lesson and over the next seventeen years she performed in recitals, area functions, musicals and a World's Fair. After her 2011 breakout award-winning nonfiction title, 'Educating America', Eger launches her fiction career much like she began her early years of life -with her love of dance. ''84 Ribbons' presents a balance between the world of ballet and the everyday world that waits just beyond the spotlight.'Ī retired teacher, trainer and emerging new voice in YA Fiction, Eger began honing her craft in 2000. 'Like these young dancers, new adults often face challenges and disappointments and are pushed to their limits as they strive for physical, mental and emotional tenacity,' says Eger. How will she handle being on her own for the first time in a new town? Will she see success beyond the thrill of the music and lights, the costumes and applause?

A compelling coming-of-age novel, this look inside the world of ballet offers both inspiration and heartbreak. We walk beside her as she approaches each twist and turn in her new life. As Marta realizes her dream, life's challenges beyond the footlights are not at all what she anticipated. We feel the music swell as the moment arrives for Marta-and ballerinas everywhere. Seventeen-year-old Marta Selbryth steps into womanhood and onto the stage. '.where believable characters perform in an engaging story' says author Lauraine Snelling. As Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson writes, 'Any young dancer will find herself in Marta's story.' '84 Ribbons' is Paddy Eger's refreshing look behind the velvet curtain.

That's over 52 million people! The more than eight million Americans who attend the ballet each year, along with those early enthusiasts, enjoy reading what life is like for the performers beyond the backstage door. The National Endowment for the Arts suggests 1 out of 6 Americans takes formal dance instruction.

84 Ribbons by Paddy Eger