The Girl Who Wanted to Dance

The call to self expression haunts a delicate, poignant tale about family and art, love and longing — and the ineffable tie between parent and child.

Clara lives with her father and grandmother in a little village. More than anything, Clara loves to dance, but her father has had too much sadness in his life to abide dancing. When Clara sees a troupe of dancers performing in the village one June day, she is enchanted enough to follow their wagons deep into the forest — and what she finds there changes her life forever. This bewitching fairy tale by master storyteller Amy Ehrlich, tenderly illustrated by Rebecca Walsh, honors the call to the artistic life and acknowledges with compassion the pain of those left behind.