The Maddie Diaries: My Story

Product Information

Ziegler perfectly captured adolescent angst, mean girls syndrome and the competitive spirit that comes at this age when it seems like all that matters in life is the next big win. I enjoyed that the other girls from the show are mentioned, especially Kenzie which you would expect since she is Maddie's sister. I liked learning a little more about her. But, there really is not much at all about Dance Mom's in itself in this book which was a little disappointing. There was not even a mention of Abby (the ALDC was mentioned), and I feel a chapter should have focused on Abby and Maddie's relationship. It did include information about Maddie and her past accomplishments: a little about Dance Moms and the dances from the show; Sia; her fashion line; SYTYCD and upcoming projects. I just finished The Audition, by Julia Rozines DeVillers and Maddie Ziegler, and it was such a good book. The Audition is about a girl named Harper who has been dancing her whole life, but suddenly moves from Connecticut to Florida. There she joins a new dance studio and gets on the advanced competition team with only four other girls. There she meets three girls who have been dancing together their whole life, but one other new girl. Although at first the other girls aren’t very accepting of her, they soon become friends.

This book focuses on how Harper and her new friends at Dance Starz head to New York for a competition, they will be once again going head to head with The Belles. There's also something else though, Harper is going face to face with her old teammates. I looked around the reception area as I waited. There was a huge DanceStarz logo above the main desk. DanceStarz colors were pink, white, and gold, which I had to admit looked pretty cool. DanceStarz was much brighter than my old studio, with white walls and huge floor-to-ceiling windows. (It was particularly strange to look out the window and see palm trees.)A tale that that will appeal to young kids particularly if they’ve been through a move themselves where they find their entire life uprooted. I’m standing just offstage, waiting for my big moment.I know my mom and dance teacher are in the audience, holding their breath in anticipation. This will be the most challenging dance I’ve ever performed—not only that but the most challenging dance anyone at DanceStarz Academy has ever performed. There’s a lot of pressure on me. As the story progresses we see that things are improving, slowly, with Megan and the other two girls. We do see that while Megan has a mean streak, she is actually quite nice. She just doesn’t show it a lot. I would recommend she does though. 😛 It is Trina who is the sweetest out of the trio and the one who is the most eager to just be friends with Harper. I was definitely happy that it wasn’t the whole story with Megan being a mean girl. I am not sure if I would have rated it this high if it was. For now it was tolerable + with the change in Megan the story only became better. Plus, they formed a front against those ubermeanies The Bells. The crowd is going wild! The audience is chanting: “Harper! Harper!” My mother’s voice in particular stands out from the crowd. The book is about a girl named Harper who loves to dance just like Maddie. Harper also has a little sister just like Maddie does. She has been dancing since she was two years old and made many friends along the way. But one day, her dad got a new job in Florida, which means they have to move there from there small town in Connecticut. Harper was really sad for awhile but she knew this was good for her family. Harper now worries about finding a new dance studio that will accept her and being able to fit in if she gets accepted. She tries out at a dance studio called Dancestars and the rest, well I guess you'll have to read to find out if she gets accepted.

The Dear Maddie section seemed a little fake. Were those actual teens asking for advice and was that actually Maddie writing the advice? Either way, I thought the answers were level headed and helpful.Even if you have little to no experience with the dance world Ziegler provides enough that you can still enjoy the plot, follow along with the characters and not get lost in the minutie. She even delves into the relationships between mothers and their dancers; everyone loves seeing moms trying to live through their kids. The main character in the book is Harper. She is set and settled in her small town in Connecticut. A place where she was born and raised. She was happy there. When her father decides to take a job in Florida. At first, Harper has a hard time with the idea. Even once in Florida she has a hard time. Why? Because her favorite thing to do was dance. She had been with the same dance studio in Connecticut, since she was a little girl, and was considered the best of the best! It turns out that the closest dance studio to her new home, was DanceStarz. A very competitive dance studio that accepted her as a dancer, but not so much as a friend. It was difficult for Harper to make friends at DanceStarz because everyone was so competitive. But she did make a new friend who also on her dance team...Lily. And it is Lilly she who supports Harper the most, throughout this difficult time, along with her parents. Thank you to the @kidlitexchange for providing me with a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own. Teen dance prodigy, breakout Dance Moms star , and judge on So You Think You Can The Next Generation presents her uplifting coming-of-age memoir about following her dreams and working hard to achieve success in both the dance world and in life.

Dance Moms is my guilty pleasure and I am a total fan girl when it comes to the show and the girls on the show. It does not matter that I am much older, I still just enjoyed the show. I was so excited when this arrived in the mail today (thank you Gallery Books) that I immediately started to read it. It's a middle grade but for a middle grade, I didn't mind the writing and I can see why people think it cheesy but cheesy books are good, it also can be viewed as that because of the reviewer's age, we have to take into consideration what the age target is. From Dance Moms star and So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation judge Maddie Ziegler comes the first novel in a brand-new middle grade trilogy about friendship, dance, and going after your dreams. I mean, I've been so swept up in this adult life, it's suddenly so bizarre to remember what it felt like to get into dumb fights with my siblings or to feel like my looks matter. This book made me nostalgic but also just grateful cause wow, I'm so glad I'm not at this point in my life anymore. Oops. I was spacing out. I let go of the piece of hair I was twisting from my ponytail. I wasn’t onstage at a competition, amazing the audience. I wasn’t even on a competition team—yet. I was sitting in a new chair, in a new dance studio, waiting to audition for a totally new competition team.A fun and sparkly book about a girl who moves to a new place and finds a new dance studio, new friends, and new dance moves~ Not so much a biography as a collection of random topics deemed suitable for a 14-year old dancer to talk about. If I were a pre-teen girl, I probably would have enjoyed this a lot. Being a fan of Dance Moms just isn't enough to find this book interesting, there isn't really anything new you didn't already know. I skipped the fashion and make up -tutorials all together, not relevant or interesting to me but again, might be to a teen. At times, this book reads like a commercial for Maddie and all the projects she has going on. Some parts read a bit too edited as well, like the advice Maddie gives. Most of it sounds like the advice your parents would give, not advice a fourteen year old girl would give. Then again, they say she is mature beyond her years. It reminded me a bit of the spirit from the Bring it On movie series only about dancing instead of cheerleading. She provides lots of details so you get a feel for how dance classes go along with their competitions, types of costumes and the intense rivalry that is created under these circumstances. In this inspirational memoir, Maddie explains the hard work she put in to her rise to stardom and how she keeps her balance along the way - starring in music videos, going on tour and becoming an actress in The Book of Henry, with Naomi Watts and Jacob Tremblay. She also answers her fans' burning questions with wise advice she's learned on her journey.