Entertaining middle grade novel that combines mystery, fantasy, and elements of horror. 11 year old Kiki is off to ballet camp with her older (and much more talented) sister in upstate New York. However the camp is quickly revealed to house more than ballerinas as fairies, will-o-the-wisps, monsters, murderous ghosts, and dark spirits begin to appear in ever increasing numbers. The big baddies of this book are ghost slyphs who lure heart sick campers (and their cheating boyfriends) to their deaths. Far more of the book is dedicated to Kiki's adjustment to camp, her laments about her poor ballet skills, and her grief for her recently deceased mother than the supernatural mystery, so the resulting shift into horror and genuinely scary content is abrupt and startling. Sensitive readers may wish to avoid this book (or at least read it during daylight hours). Familiarity with or interest in ballet is not needed. The final chapter appears to be setting up for a future series of haunted ballet tales.

This was a really good book! I loved Kiki, Oliver and the general story, which involved Kiki’s older sister, Alison and the wilis. I loved how all the characters were realistically flawed, especially Kiki who was a typical twelve year old, seeing all her flaws and not paying attention to the things that make her unique. This is an adorable fantasy that has everything a middle grade reader would want. It was spooky, sweet and so much fun, with a great sisterly relationship! I also love how a tale of a family without a mother is woven throughout the story and is so heartwarming. The book wraps up nicely but also leaves room for a potential sequel. I’ll definitely be watching out for one!

Thank you to Netgalley and Owl Hollow Press for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because it had a cute cover and every now and then, I really like a good middle grade book with some personal growth in it. Kiki is the main character and it is mostly her growth we see. She and her sister are getting ready to go to a dance conservatory while their dad is off at an archaeological dig and while Kiki LOVES to dance, she is not a natural at it like her sister is. As she is heading out the door, she sees the brochure about the camp and there is something magical about it...LITERALLY. She thinks it was just her mind playing tricks on her and puts it out of her head. Once they arrive and Kiki confirms her fears that she is still not very good at dancing, she wanders into a forest that the kids have specifically been told not to go to. There, she discovers that fairies are real and there IS magic involved with this place. She befriends Oliver who happens to live in the forest and he teaches her about the fairies and other magical beings that coexist there...including ghosts of ballerinas past. There is a story that ballerinas who fall in love and have their heart broken will get taken by these ghosts and added to their collection...and unfortunately her sister has her heart broken while they are there. So begins the fight to save her. I loved that the characters were each true to their age and might be someone I could meet out on the street..i loved that they showed some character growth in that they had to put others over themselves at times...I loved that even though Kiki knew she wasn't as good as most of the girls, she never let jealousy come between them and she never let let it stop her from doing something she enjoyed.

After having a little trouble at the beginning, I found this to be an adorable story about a young girl saving her sister from ghost sylphs who lure young ballerinas to their death.

Kiki isn’t a natural ballerina like her sister is, but it is something she enjoys. While their father is away at a archaeological dig, both girls attend a dance conservatory at Mount Faylinn. Set next to the conservatory is a mysterious forest which the teachers warn them not to enter. Of course, Kiki does and begins to learn about its inhabitants – the fairy folk as well as the sylphs, who dance the ballet Giselle.

I will admit my struggle at the beginning was due to verb tense. After reading book after book that use a specific verb tense it took a little adjustment on my part to settle in to this one’s style. (Example of the difference “He smiles at her” vs “He smiled at her”) But once I did I found I quite enjoyed the story. The relationship between Kiki and her sister as well as Oliver (a boy who lives nearby) were both heart-warming with a positive, uplifting feel to it. Although there are ghosts and tense moments at the end, the bond between sisters and friends won out.

Using the Giselle ballet was a unique and perfect choice for this ghostly story. Most kids won’t be as familiar with it as the Nutcracker, but once they learn about this ghost-filled ballet they’ll come to appreciate it.

General themes include acknowledging and accepting that not everyone is perfect at everything, jealousy, greed, and sisterly bonds.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Owl Hollow Press for the advanced reader story and opportunity to provide an honest review.

I’m intrigued with the cover and blurb, glad I picked it up! MC Kiki Macadoo and her sister, Alison, attend the Mount Faylinn Dance Conservatory for the summer. They ignore the mysterious warning on the brochure that ballets come alive in the nearby. Alison disappears and it’s up to Kiki to brave the woods and save her sister from the ghost sylphs that dance young girls to their deaths. As Kiki unlocks the mysteries of Mount Faylinn, the ballet of the ghost sylphs, Giselle, simultaneously unfolds, sending Kiki on the adventure of a lifetime. This is a fun and entertaining read! Thank you to Owl Hollow Press and NetGalley for an ebook ARC. This is my honest review.

Twelve-year-old Kiki MacAdoo and her older sister Alison are set to spend three weeks at the prestigious Mount Faylinn Dance Conservatory. While Kiki is busy worrying about her less than perfect ballet technique, sixteen-year-old Alison is annoyingly obsessed with her awful boyfriend. When they arrive at Mount Faylinn, Kiki discovers that the woods that surround the conservatory are filled with magical creatures straight out of old Irish folklore, including a bunch of fairies who she has accidentally offended. Luckily, her new friend Oliver knows all about the magic of the woods and is willing to help her navigate it all. But when a brokenhearted Alison finds her way into the forest, she's in danger from something much more sinister than fairy trickery: A group of sylphs straight out of the ballet Giselle, who will stop at nothing to induct Allison into their ghostly ranks.

I was interested in this book because when I was a middle-grader I was obsessed with two things: ballet and books. Twelve-year-old Evalyn would have picked this up in a heartbeat. I loved Kiki as a protagonist. Her penchant for mashing up words to describe her feelings was adorable, and it was nice to see a sister relationship that wasn't based too heavily on the two of them arguing. As a former dancer, I felt very empathetic when it came to Kiki's doubt in her own abilities. I loved that she kept working in spite of the fact that there were younger girls improving much more quickly than her. And by the end of the book, all that really matters is how much she loves to dance.

However, there was a lot more to the magical elements of the book than I expected. The synopsis describes Kiki's face-off with the sylphs as if it is the main action of the story, without mentioning any of the other magic going on in the forest. Although I enjoyed learning about the fairies and other magical creatures that populate Mount Faylinn, and I thought the friendship that developed between Kiki and Oliver was adorable, I was surprised that the Giselle plotline didn't come to the forefront of the novel until the end. There were also a few magical elements like a white spider Kiki sees twice near the beginning of the book and a mysterious shape-shifting jaguar cat, that seemed out of place because of how little explanation they received. But overall this book's lovely descriptions of both magic and dance won me over, and I know that I would have adored this book back in my ballet days.

I'm usually looking for books ballet relate because I love to promoting reading in my students.
I read ”kiki McAdoo and the graveyard ballerinas” thanks to NetGalley. I really enjoyed this book. It's a young girls' book with fantasy and mystery around the life of this aspiring ballerina and her sister. I was caught by the story since the beginning. I'm pretty sure every reader who wants a quick and joyful reading it would find this book perfect, not only girls, adults would find in this book a delightful and extraordinary reading.

I thought that this was a cute and fin story. I really had a fun time reading this. The plot was fun and I really liked the adventure in it. It wrapped up nicely and I enjoyed the characters in this story

Kiki Macadoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas by Colette Sewall

Owl Hollow Press, 2020

ISBN-13: 978-1945654558

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition




Kiki Macadoo, age eleven, and her teenage sister Alison, are going to a special ballet summer camp housed in a Gothic castle in a remote area surrounded by dense forest. Kiki loves ballet but is terrible at it, while Alison is very talented. While both of them are excited about camp, Kiki is nervous, and Alison is bummed because she'll be spending the summer away from her boyfriend, Dylan.

Despite the camp's setting, the kids seem pretty normal-- they're there because they want to excel in dance. Sewall writes naturally about ballet and dance, without making the terminology intimidating. Kiki is placed in the lowest dance class, with 8 year olds, but she's lucky in that she has a pretty good relationship with Alison, her roommate is kind and friendly even though she's a much better dancer, and the dance teacher is understanding and helpful. The camp director, Madame Dupree, is elderly, forgetful, and a bit eccentric (there's a subplot where her son's fiance attempts to have her committed so he can sell the property to developers, but it doesn't really go anywhere), but she's also thoughtful and generous. When she learns that Alison will have her sixteenth birthday at camp, she enlists Kiki in helping plan a surprise party for Alison. It's  refreshing to see a school story, especially one involving teenagers and middle-schoolers, where the main character isn't bullied because of physical flaws or struggles with learning.  It's also nice to see the conflicting feelings Kiki has about dance and about her sister-- she may struggle but she perserveres.

While the campers have been forbidden from going into the forest, it doesn't stop Kiki. Her lessons end earlier than Alison's or her roommate's, leaving Kiki plenty of time to explore. One of the boys at the school, Oliver, lives on the grounds and tells her she needs to be careful because fairies and spirits live in the woods (Oliver isn't mocked for dancing; we have come a long way since Oliver Button Is a Sissy). At first she doesn't believe him, but it turns out that Kiki is one of a rare few who can see them, because she has "ghost eyes", two different-colored eyes. Kiki and Oliver become friends and explore the forest together (it is almost a character in its own right), and between Oliver's stories and hints dropped by Madame Dupree, Kiki learns that in addition to harmless spirits, there are some dangerous ones as well. The wilis, water sylphs who died of broken hearts while at ballet camp, draw in any young woman with a broken heart and force her to dance to her death, at which time she becomes one of them. There is a graveyard filled with the bodies of girls who died dancing and became wilis.

The surprise party for Alison does not end well. Alison's boyfriend shows up with bad grace and she discovers he's seeing another girl; broken-hearted, she runs into the forest where she is drawn in to the wilis' dance. As terrifying as they are, it is up to Kiki to break her sister away from the wilis' spell.

I really liked the author's choice to make the wilis her dangerous spirits. They are part of Slavic folklore and are not commonly known, but they do appear in the ballet Giselle, which is tragic and terrifying. Giselle is maybe not as well known to the average kid as The Nutcracker or Swan Lake, but that makes the story extra cool in integrating the ballet theme into the story.

As it is a middle grade book, things end well, but the path to getting there has its frightening moments, and definitely magical ones. The door is left open to a sequel, and I'll be interested to see if one happens and, if it does, where it takes Kiki, Alison, and Oliver next. Recommended for ages 8-13.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and OwlPress for having this e-arc available to read and review.

What a fascinating book, I loved the concept of ghostly ballerinas which is why I had to read this, but it was so much more than that once you start reading it.

I loved that the characters were realistic to their ages and maturity, that each one was flawed, in particular our protagonist Kiki. She loved ballet but wasn’t that great at it yet, but she worked on it and that’s great that the book showed that.

Kiki and her sister Alison go away for 3 weeks to ballet summer camp. The conservatory is built around a unique land filled with fairies, mischievous squirrels and so much more. What lurks deep in the woods at night though are the spirits of the dead and heartbroken ballerinas.

I really loved how this story took you on a really fun adventure, you had a mystery to solve from the first chapter until the very end and it was so much fun. I loved the character developments that took place whilst these adventures were happening. I was hoping for more of a horror theme based on the
cover and description but regardless it was still a great read.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this, it had so much going on in it, the characters were all thought out, the storyline was detailed and incredibly well written and well paced out. It was highly enjoyable and so much fun.

I'm a sucker for a spooky book cover and this one lured me in--hook, line and sinker! There's ballerinas, ghosts, a forbidden forest and an enchanting dance conservatory! Although the cover looks spooky, the story is more of a fantasy filled with fairies and mythical woodland sprites. The story follows two sisters, Kiki and Allison, as they hone their ballerina skills at the majestic Mount Faylinn Dance Conservatory. Things soon go awry when Kiki explores the cursed woods and uncovers a some dark secrets attached to the dance conservatory. The plot picks up when the broken-hearted Allison gets spirited away into the land of the fairies, sending Kiki on her quest to save her big sister from the dreaded curse. Kiki is certainly a relatable character who is sure to charm young readers who have struggled with sullen big sisters, boy crushes and difficult sports/disciplines. Unlike her gifted sister, Kiki has to put in a lot of work to even keep up with the remedial-level dancers. Hey, I totally get it. I wanted to be the next Shannon Miller, which rather hard for a long-leggedy 5'8 girl with size 11 feet! So yeah, this character's plight is quite relatable. Here's hoping she'll ditch the ballet shoes and discovers a sport within her wheelhouse!

But I digress...overall, this is a fun, fantastical read for readers, young and old, who enjoy a dance-themed adventure filled with magic and mystery.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! It was exactly what I needed right now! It was spooky, sweet, so much fun, and a great sisterly relationship. AND it’s set at a school? Yes please! The characters flew off the page and I loved the writing. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more books from this author! I’d recommend this to any middle schooler that loves dance and a dash of magic!

This review will be posted immediately on GoodReads and a shortened review can be found on my Instagram as of June 23, 2020.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for ARC of this book.

I love Kiki. I was never bored reading this story though I'm don't have much knowledge about ballet or any dance. The fantasy part excites me and I admire Kiki for being able to face her fears. I also love how the writer showed what true love can do. I really enjoyed reading it and I'm sure, readers of all ages will love it!

This was a lot of fun to read - it was very interesting and mysterious throughout and I really enjoyed the characters growth and interaction.

This adorable fantasy has everything a middle grade reader would want. I love the ballet theme, being in ballet lessons as a little girl holds so many found memories for me. Of course my lesson weren't in such a cool setting. The school/castle was fantastic and so easy to imagine. Kiki is a great main character, who really embodies what it is like to be a girl that age with all of the awkward moments, and adventure. I also thought Oliver added a lot to the story. My very favorite parts were in the woods and with the magical aspects. They were very creative and well described. Love love love the Graveyard Ballerinas themselves too. I was also caught off guard by the emotions that struck me in certain places, especially at the end.

Middle grade readers should adore this, as will adults who are young at heart.

I thought this story was well written and I liked the characters. It is a very sweet story centered around sisterly love. It was upbeat with no boring or slow parts. I really think Middle Schoolers will love this book and not be able to put it down. I really enjoyed it.

Kiki MacAdoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas is definitely and fun and exciting read! Kiki and her sister attend a summer ballet camp which is located in a remote area. On the first day, they are told to stay away from the woods because it is dangerous! However, Kiki does go into the woods and encounters some strange and unusual creatures and ghosts. The plot has some interesting twists and goes back and forth between Kiki's frustrations in ballet class and her discovery and adventures in the woods. Children who love ballet will enjoy reading about Kiki's ballet struggles and everyone will enjoy the suspenseful adventure with the creatures and ghosts in the woods.

Book Review: Kiki MacAdoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas by Colette Sewall
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 Stars
Thank you to @netgalley and @owlhollowpress for the eARC of this story!

I was super excited to have the opportunity to review this book because it's about a young ballerina, and my daughter desperately wants to become a ballerina.
Kiki MacAdoo, and her sister Alison, are off to a three week summer ballet program. Mount Faylinn Dance Conservatory is nestled amongst a small town and enchanted wood, where it is rumored that ballets come to life.
Kiki befriends a local, named Oliver, who introduces her to the magical world hidden within the woods, while also warning her of the dangers it holds.

Sewall has created a magical world of fairies, Willa the wisps, and ballerinas. This enchanting take is perfect for young readers that love dance and magic. I will definitely be getting this for my daughter.

Things to note: Kiki is 12 and Alison turns 16. They are dealing with the death of their mother. There is some pretty intense danger, magic/ alchemy in the culminating scene.

Did someone say ballerinas & ghosts????

KIKI MACADOO offers a particularly exciting plot for MG readers - two sisters are sent to a ballet conservatory surrounded by dark, magical woods, where the slightest misstep has consequences and sinister machinations are at play. Colette Sewall has a lovely way with words, and I immediately adored Kiki; perhaps she's no prodigy when it comes to ballet, but she has a fierce heart and felt perfectly relatable.

I appreciated how much Sewall tackled in this book, combining magic with realer problems like grief, sisterhood, first crushes, and the struggle of being an ordinary girl surrounded by extraordinary people. The atmosphere was both spooky and lush, the tension was crackling, and the ballet specifics were ... shall we say ... en pointe? No? Too much?

Nevertheless, I couldn't help but feel KIKI MACADOO was missing something I couldn't put my finger on. Perhaps it was because, at times, the plot felt a touch too easy. The blurb tells us that Kiki's sister disappears, but that doesn't happen until the 75% mark - as soon as the sylphs are introduced, though, we KNOW what's going to happen, and I found myself just waiting for Allison to disappear so that part of the plot could unfold. It's all too convenient - Allison fits the exact profile of girls that sylphs kidnap from the onset, so there are very few unknowns left for the reader to unravel. Sure, we have a money-hungry relative appear from nowhere, but I found I could predict what was going to happen far too early. The worldbuilding, too, was lackluster - why is this section of forest populated with ghosts and fairies? If so many girls had gone missing, why was that not a bigger story clinging to the conservatory? And what about all the boys they drowned? What's going on with Kiki's ghost-eyes? How did the fairies fit with the ghosts? There were so many components that could've fed into a great mystery, but I was never surprised by anything, and that made the whole story feel a touch flat.

That being said, it's still an imaginative and exciting tale. I imagine it would settle well with younger MG readers, especially those with interests in dance and the supernatural. 3/5.

Kiki MacAdoo and her older sister Alison head to a summer ballet camp in a mysterious remote forest in this middle grade adventure. While Alison is ahead of her age group in her skills as a ballerina, Kiki places in the lowest and youngest group, bemoaning her lack of progress in her favorite activity. Soon after the sisters arrive, Kiki learns of the existence of fairies in the enchanted woods surrounding the conservatory thanks to Oliver, a local ballet student she befriends. Oliver soon reveals another of the forest's secrets, a graveyard of sylphs and their sordid tales as heartbroken young ballerinas.

I won't give away any more of the plot but the characters of this book really seem to capture the age of the intended audience. Kiki's inner monologue, her triumphs, and her struggles seem very akin to those of a 12-year old middle school student. I really enjoyed the different intersections of folklore in this book and how the author connected everything to the ballet school. There is everything here you want in a middle grade book!