Bokrecension: Billy Elliot av Readers Scholastic

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Storytelling:
The book is about an eleven years old boy named Billy Elliot.

Billy’s dad and brother works as miners but they are in the middle of a strike. Billy’s mum is dead and it’s hard for Billy’s dad, Jackie, to keep the family together without her. Billy goes in boxing, but he doesn’t like it at all and he’s not so good either. One day he goes to check out the ballet class in the other side of the “training house”. He join them dancing and thinks it is rather fun. He practice all the time at home on a special spin and tell his dad that it’s just a new boxing-thing. Billy sneaks to the ballet class more often and always say to his dad that he is boxing. The only person who knows about the ballet is Billy’s best friend Michael. Michael likes to wear his sisters’ clothes when she’s not at home. Later Michael tells Billy that he is gay but Billy doesn’t get surprised.

In the ballet, the ballet-teacher thinks that Billy is good enough to attend the Royal Ballet School so she persuades him to take free solo-lessons for her. They finds out a dance which is about his dead mother. The background music is one of his mother’s favourite songs.

But the day when he should go to the audition to the Royal Ballet School his brother Tony is in court, because he had set fire on a horse’s tail. At the evening, the ballet-teacher comes home to Billy to find out why he didn’t go to the audition. Then the ballet teacher tells Billy’s father and brother that Billy is dancing and trying to attend the Royal Ballet School. His father becomes furious and forbids Billy ever to meet the ballet teacher again.

Secretly Billy continues to dance ballet and says to his father that he is playing with Michael every day. Finally his father happens to see him dance and understands that Billy is quite good at it. Than he decides to help him raise the money necessary to help him apply for the Royal Ballet School at a new audition in London. It is very hard since his family is nearly broke but somehow he manages to get the money and they leaves for London. There he dances and then everything goes wrong and Billy hits another boy. He is convinced his dancing career is buried. Two weeks later he gets a letter that says that he is accepted at the ballet school and both he, his brother and his father becomes very happy. Later, when he dances the leading roll in The Swan Lake, his father gets real proud of him.


The characters:
Billy: Billy is a boy who is very goal-oriented and fight until he achieves his goal. He is kind and cares about other people. Billy is a bit worried what other people would think and thought about him and what he is doing and all. He won’t tell his dad that he is dancing ballet because he are a bit scared over what his dad will do about it.

Jackie: Jackie is Billy’s dad and he is trying to keep the family together. Sara was before the person who took care of most of the personal problems their sons had and now when Sara is dead Jackie thinks it’s hard to do everything. He really wants to be the perfect dad but it isn’t so easy. When Billy’s ballet teacher tells Jackie that Billy dances Jackie don’t know what he should do. Finally he thinks what Sara would have done and helps Billy to go to London.

Michael: Michael is Billy’s best friend and he realizes how much Billy really like the ballet and Michael himself thinks it’s rather elegant and nice to watch. Michael doesn’t like sports because he’s not so good at it. He love to wear his sisters clothes and later in the book he admit that he is gay.