Former Dancer and Award-winning Author Paddy Eger Opens the Spring Ballet Season for YA Readers with Her Debut Novel 84 Ribbons.

Online, February 26, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The National Endowment for the Arts suggests 1 out of 6 Americans takes formal dance instruction. That's over 52 million people! The more than eight million Americans who attend the ballet each year, along with those early enthusiasts, enjoy reading what life is like for the performers beyond the backstage door. As Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson writes, "Any young dancer will find herself in Marta's story." '84 Ribbons' is Paddy Eger's refreshing look behind the velvet curtain. "...where believable characters perform in an engaging story" says author Lauraine Snelling.

Seventeen-year-old Marta Selbryth steps into womanhood and onto the stage. We feel the music swell as the moment arrives for Marta—and ballerinas everywhere. As Marta realizes her dream, life's challenges beyond the footlights are not at all what she anticipated. We walk beside her as she approaches each twist and turn in her new life. A compelling coming-of-age novel, this look inside the world of ballet offers both inspiration and heartbreak. How will she handle being on her own for the first time in a new town? Will she see success beyond the thrill of the music and lights, the costumes and applause?

"Like these young dancers, new adults often face challenges and disappointments and are pushed to their limits as they strive for physical, mental and emotional tenacity," says Eger. "'84 Ribbons' presents a balance between the world of ballet and the everyday world that waits just beyond the spotlight."

A retired teacher, trainer and emerging new voice in YA Fiction, Eger began honing her craft in 2000. After her 2011 breakout award-winning nonfiction title, "Educating America", Eger launches her fiction career much like she began her early years of life —with her love of dance. At the tender age of three she took her first dance lesson and over the next seventeen years she performed in recitals, area functions, musicals and a World's Fair. With her own ballerina fairy tale, Eger writes with lyrical prose to choreograph an uplifting, realistic story that will endear ballerinas, young and old, around the world.

A 46 year resident of Edmonds Washington, Paddy and her husband, Rich, enjoy travel in the United States and internationally and are avid supporters of the arts in the Greater Seattle area. They enjoy spending time with their adult children, Brent and Christine, at their summer home on Hood Canal.

"84 Ribbons" ($16.95 USD, ISBN: 978-0-9858933-2-3), a 360 page soft cover trade book published by Tendril Press is available through your favorite local and online bookstores and from the publisher at TendrilPress.com or personalized autographed copies are available from the author at PaddyEger.com

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Online Media Kit available: PaddyEger.com