title: It's Only Dancing
author: Jasmine Guillory
publisher: Scholastic Press
publication date: October 6, 2026
pages: 320
peppers: 1 (on this scale)
warnings:
- body-image meanness
- mean boy behavior
summary: Kat's parents decide that what the family needs is a month at Camp Ochoa, a family camp in Southern California. It's absolutely not what Kat and her sister Ella want. Despite having quit ballet two years earlier for two horrible reasons and swearing she'd lost the love of dance, Kat volunteers to partner with Jordan in a competition so that his co-teacher Toni can watch her person in a track meet. This modern Dirty Dancing retelling offers all the right moves.
tropes:
- reclaiming a lost love
- family time
- parents aren't as bad as they seem
- bad boss
- against the rules
- secret romance
what I liked:
- camp activities
- family dynamics
- dancing
- all of the main characters
- the drag story hour scene
what I didn’t like:
- n/a
overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)
As always, you can click on the photo above if you want to buy the book.