The fourth book in the series about born dancer Drina Adams (also called Drina Dances in Italy). Drina gets to travel with the Dominick school to Italy, where she is thrilled to meet her _other_ grandmother, in Milan. She meets and makes friends with Igor Dominick, at least as much as the supercilious Dominick heir allows. As always, the ballet background has the ring of authenticity--ballet lovers will enjoy it.

I loved this series when I was younger, and when I had the chance to get some of these books through bookcrossing, I couldn't resist.

Enjoyable story, lovely descriptions of Italy which brought back happy memories of our visit there in 2012.

Ich hatte als Kind auch eine Ballettphase, wenn auch nur über Bücher ;) die Cindy-Bücher fand ich damals alle super und hab mir eines nach dem anderen von der Omi schenken lassen oder selbst vom Taschengeld gekauft. Ich fand auch alle Cover so toll, ich hab die immer bewundert. (Bei dem hier war ich ein wenig enttäuscht, weil nichts besonders "ballettartiges" dabei war.)

Gerade habe ich gesehen, dass sie im Englischen "Drina" heisst ... wer kommt bitteschön auf die Idee, jemand von Drina nach Cindy zu übersetzen für den deutschen Buchmarkt? Wieso nicht gleich Steffi oder Lisa? ^^

Childhood favourite.

I have the UK version, which is called "Drina Dances in Italy." Only the second half of the book actually takes place in Italy. Drina travels there to meet her Italian family and has the chance to dance with the Dominick Ballet when a few members of the corps de ballet are ill.

It's a nice little book. I love the style of writing, but it is unbelievable that Drina, after learning Italian for about a month, is almost fluent after a week in Italy.

amazing!!!!!!!!

I had not read the Drina books since I was a child and I recently re-read them all. I read the first 5 as a child and then as a teen I hunted down the final 6 once I realized they existed. I am happy to say that for the most part they hold up to the test of time. They are very much in the style of British school stories but I quite like those. I think the whole series is definitely worth the effort it takes to hunt them down.

see review of book #1

This book takes us back to the level of the first two, in my opinion. Not only is Drina back to her normal self - except for maybe a chapter and a half of undue wallowing - but it also introduces two new characters I love - Ilonka and Igor. Ilonka is a refugee from a fictional country under Soviet rule behind the old Iron Curtain, which creates the only semi-political sub-plot in the entire series. Igor is the son of the director of Drina's ballet school, and the company into which she hopes to be accepted. I didn't quite understand my attraction to this character when I first read the series, but being older it's obvious that I was hoping he'd become a romantic interest for Drina. This book also marks the first introduction of Drina's Italian relations, and watching her discover a heritage that had been completely hidden from her was very satisfying.

In the first half of this book Drina returns to the Dominick school after nearly a year away at their sister school in the country. At first she feels almost like a new girl all over again, especially since her friend Rose is still at the country school. But she makes a new friend in Ilonka, a refugee from Eastern Europe. In the second half, Drina travels to Italy to meet her Italian grandmother and other relatives during the Easter holidays. Coincidentally, the Dominick company is also there on tour, leading to an unexpected opportunity.

Don't be fooled! Other versions of the book are titled Drina Dances in Italy and the synopsis on the back of the U.S. Scholastic edition says "Drina saves the day" by filling in when some members of the Dominick Company become ill while in Italy. In reality, though, that doesn't happen until the final 20 pages of the book, and it only lasts about 2 pages. False advertising... but I'm sure the intended audience wouldn't feel as duped as I did :P

As someone who is WAY older than the target audience, I feel like the Drina books get weaker as they go. Maybe the young kids like book #4 as much as book #1, but I'm at the point where I don't feel like the later books live up to the promise of the first book.