Fifteen-year-old Natalie uses her passion for dance to navigate the unpredictable world of older boys, moody friends, and absentee parents. Her father lives in another city and has a new family, and her mother is increasingly distant. Over the course of the summer, she falls in love (or is it just lust?) with her best friend's older brother, learns her mother's big secret, and discovers a new world when a teacher introduces her to the power and freedom of modern dance.
Natalie persuasively develops from naïve and resentful after Kevin spurns her to hypercritical about others' transgressions (like Sasha's shoplifting and smoking) and, finally, to poised. In the end, Natalie declares her support for her mother's relationship, befriends a shy girl with dance aspirations, and pauses to contemplate a drug legalization rally--a passage that underscores Natalie's growing awareness that the world exists in shades of gray.
– Publisher's Weekly
Leap by Jodi Lundgren is a terrific story for teen girls and within its pages there are many lessons to be learned... Natalie is a great character who at times I wanted to just hug and at others give her a bit of a shake. I loved how she went from not so smart to realizing her worth and going forward.
– Peeking Between the Pages Blog
Jodi Lundgren has written a sometimes startlingly realistic and heart-wrenching novel in Leap. Readers will alternately be cheering Natalie on while, at other moments, they will be wanting to shake some sense into her. The overwhelming confusion and loneliness of navigating first loves and first sexual encounters ring true.
– CM Magazine
This novel, with its luminous descriptions of dance and frank discussions of sexuality and relationships, will captivate teens looking for a story they can relate to.
– School Library Journal
This is a book to challenge and please girls who are growing out of more predictable forms of teen chick-lit.
– Resource Links
Oh, the teenage years. Insecurities, fights between friends, disagreements with parents, first loves, and broken hearts. Leap by Jodi Lundgren has it all and more.
– NewPages.com
Leap would make an excellent addition to libraries whose teens hunger for those realistic, problem novels where main characters struggle against all odds.
– CM Magazine
I felt Ms. Lundgren accurately depicts the life of a young dancer. I loved the imagery invoked by her descriptions. I could practically see the dance unfolding before me.
– Book Twirps
I think the best way to describe this novel is tumultuous- there is no strict plot-line, as the reader you are just sort of dropped into the rawness of Natalie's feelings and experiences.
– Mable's Fables
It’s a sweet story that teenage girls in general, and anyone who’s ever danced, will appreciate.
– www.tonyaplank.com
The main character in this book is easy to identify with and you can't help but cheer her on. This coming-of-age story is perfect for almost any teenager going through similar family, friends and boy problems.
– The Fall Book Review
