Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became the Bookmobile Ballerina

INSPIRED BY THE AMAZING LIFE OF BALLERINA SYLVIA TOWNSEND

Sylvia longs to be a ballerina like the ones she sees on television.

She wants to leap

and twirl

and do pliés

till she can dance in real ballets.

But as an African American girl in 1950s America, Sylvia has to make her dreams come true against all odds.

This beautiful first-ever biography of Sylvia Townsend tells the story of how one determined girl got her wings by discovering the magic of the bookmobile, keeping the beat in her feet, and staying on her tippy-toes . . . always ready for liftoff.