Alicia Alonso wanted to be a dancer and this story is the tale of her life and accomplishments. Alicia grew up in Cuba before moving to America to pursue dance. Even when faced with a medical issue, she did not give up her dream. This book was full of inspiration and hope, along with the biography of a strong woman. Thank you NetGalley and Rebel Girls for a copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

My family and I are loving the middle grade chapter books Rebel Girls are creating, as my kids reading taste and abilities grow. My daughter in particular loves dance, so this story was especially interesting to her.
We thought it was really well done. Engaging, inspiring and the illustrations complimented the story well.
Thank you Rebel Girls for the copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love the Rebel Girls series, especially these collections of middle grade fictionalized biographies. This one is about Alicia Alonso, a Cuban girl who became an incredibly famous ballerina, even after suffering an eye disease that gave her partial blindness as a teen. I just read a fictional book about ballet so it was nice to see Giselle and the Nutcracker as real performances. She has a very inspiring and interesting story!

Thanks to Rebel Girls & netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE Rebel Girls?

The stories are fantastic, the books are appealing to look at and read, the length of the stories is just right for young readers, and the subject are fantastic!

Rebel Girls is doing a phenomenal job of finding diverse women, and interesting stories about lesser known heroines, to present as inspiration for a generation that has started their intellectual pursuits under much duress.

I just can't wait to have an entire bookshelf dedicated to Rebel Girls and strong women as a beacon to empower the young people (not just girls!) in my life

Thank you Rebel Girls!

It tells a story of a legendary ballerina who didn't give up on dancing. She over dancing from day 1 and never really stopped. Despite her struggle and illness, Alicia kept going and she actually lived a long happy life as a dancer. Her contribution to the ballet world was highly noticeable, especially in her hometown, Cuba. It was eye pleasing inspirative story. I enjoy this a lot!!!

Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage
by Rebel Girls
Pub Date 07 Feb 2023 | Archive Date 03 Mar 2023
Rebel Girls
Biographies & Memoirs | Children's Fiction | Middle Grade



I am reviewing a copy of Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage through Rebel Girls and Netgalley:


Alicia always felt she had been born to dance. From the moment she put on her pointe shoes for the first time it felt that was her place. She is determined to become a professional ballerina. A few years later, Alicia moves from Cuba to the United States to follow her dreams.


After Alicia begins to loose her sight, she wonders how she will dance she can’t see where she’s going. Stuck in bed and only able to practice with her fingertips, Alicia doesn’t give up. She finds a way to get back on stage, dancing into the hearts of audiences as one of the world’s most famous prima ballerinas.


In Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage readers are introduced to the story of a world-renowned prima ballerina who impressed people all over the world with her beautiful dancing while living with visual impairments. This is a story about perseverance in the face of adversity, and how the arts can afford women the opportunity to achieve a global impact.


I give Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

As a mother who is blind and who also shares the stories with her teenage daughter I am so glad they wrote the story about Alicia Alonso a blind ballerina. She was born in Cuba and her love of dance started and her family‘s nightly talent shows but when they move to Spain and her mom enrolled her in dance class her love for the art exploded. She even slept with her ballerina slippers somethings are power to worried about when she became a teenager she met Fernando Alonso who agreed to take ballet classes just so he could be with Alicia more than before Alicia knew it he was asking her to marry him and move to New York. This is where her star would really glow but unfortunately there’s always a downside and for Alicia she was diagnosed with retinal detachment with which is an ongoing disease that will eventually make the person blind but despite that Alicia continue to dance on stage with the help of her fellow dancers in a string attached to her corset she was able to do what she loved and lived to be 98 and wow what a story I truly love this book in the pictures and it’s one of our favorites. I received this book from NetGalley and rebel girls but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with this free arc in exchange for a free review.
Absolutely love this series and can't get enough of them.
I love how easily they narrate the difficulties of the women.

I love the Rebel Girl series and was thrilled to be given the opportunity to read about another strong woman and her contribution to society.

Great story, for both girls and boys to learn about gender equality. Highly recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Rebel Girls for an advanced copy of Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first book about the life of Alicia Alonso. Since I love this series of books for kids, I thought it was a good idea to start with this one. The first thing I love is the name of the dancer in this collection, I think it's a perfect brief biography for a child may be between 9 and 11. It's easy to read and it's a portrait of the quality of the human being she was. I'm an adult and I enjoyed the reading. I read someone talking about the illustration, but I didn't feel uncomfortable with the type of body. I thought maybe will inspire a lot of girls of every size and nationality.
I definitely will buy this book for my girls.

I love the idea of rebel girls books about women who worked hard and have rebelled to get to where they wanted to be, and it is fun to learn about women who were famous in their time, but are now largely forgotten.
This novel is based on the life of Alicia Alonso, one of the most wonderful ballerinas from Cuba. People could see how talented she was since childhood, but her life wasn't easy. At some point, it seemed like she would never be able to dance again after losing her sight. But her love for the dance was bigger than her fear.

She sure does: Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage
by Rebel Girls

#AliciaAlonsoTakestheStage #NetGalley

Rebel Girls has done a fantastic job with this series of biographies about girls/women who faced challenges and successfully dealt with them. These are chapter books with short(ish) sections and good illustrations. They are just a bit over 100 pages long. To me, they seem just right for those in second or third grade and up.

This time, one of the best known dancer’s story is told. Life was not always easy for Alicia as she faced a serious vision problem that, in a less strong person, might have been career ending. How did she manage not to give up and not to hold back?

Young readers will enjoy getting to know Alicia, who adored dance from an early age, studying dance in Spain and Cuba before moving to New York with a young Senor Alonso. I loved the story of how she got her first pair of ballet toe shoes. Readers will be cheering for Alicia as she becomes the person that she dreamed of being.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Rebel Girls for this title.

School Library Journal says:

With this powerful, hope-filled story of overcoming one’s obstacles, readers will close this book and feel inspired to leave a legacy of their own.”

Pub date: 07 February 2023

Another great chapter book from Rebel Girls! Text by Corinne Purtill.
Alicia was born in 1920 in an island nation in the Caribbean, went to regular school and took ballet lessons. She loved ballet and even went to study with a famous ballet! She became world famous for her skill. Then she became nearly blind! And still she went on tour. She determined to do it, and she did! She even founded the Cuban National Ballet and lived until 2019!
This fictionalized biography is quite realistic and encouraging to anyone facing difficulties in doing what matters to them.
The illustrations by Josefina Preumayr are simple, delightful, imaginative, and colorful.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, but especially to a school or your public library!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Rebel Girls via NetGalley. Thank you!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Rebel Girls for providing me a free eARC of this book for me to review.

I fell madly in love with the story of Alicia Alonso who, despite the difficulties, managed to fulfill her dream of becoming a dancer.
As always the artworks are gorgeous.
I highly recommend this series of books that represent strong and wonderful women who have made their contribution to a society directed towards gender equality.

Both my daughter and I really enjoyed reading this book together before bed at night. We were able to finish it up within a couple of days. A good balance between text and illustrations it kept my daughter's attention. We always enjoy books that show strong women that are inspiring to our youth.

I love all of the books and amazing stories from the Rebel Girls series and this one is no exception.
A warm and loving story that shows everyone how hard work and true live can overcome even the physical difficulties.

I had never heard about Alicia Alonso, so I was very interested in this book. It describes in the special Rebel Girls style parts of the ballet dancer´s life, first her childhood, then her taking dancing lessons, moving to the USA, founding a family and also her struggles with health problems. I fell in love with the girl with a big dream and the strong woman who overcame difficulties. I also liked the "exercises" for children to learn to know their body combined with their feelings.
Thanks to Rebel Girls and Netgalley for a free ebook of this new edition in exchange for an honest review.

Alicia Alonsa loves to dance and has since her first lessons. She was so determined to become a Prima Ballerina she left Cuba to dance in the United States. She began to lose her sight and found ways to adapt to her sightless world and continue her dancing. Rebel Girls has again expanded their stories about exceptional, ground breaking women girls can look up to and respect.

This is the life story of a Cuban ballet dancer. She showed much determination in the face of adversity and this is illustrated in the book. There is by necessity a certain amount of supposition regarding Alicia's thoughts and actions but this does make the book an easier read as a result. It should appeal to any dance mad girls aged between 8 and 12 years old and some boys who are interested in dance might benefit from reading about the Alonso brothers.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. Alicia pursued her dream even after her father only thought it was a passing phase. She kept at it and let nothing stop her. Even when she had to remain motionless in bed for her retinas to heal, she still did the ballet scenes in her head. She kept practicing and all her hard work paid off.