Taking Flight: from War Orphan to Star Ballerina is an extremely inspirational book. It tells the story of a small girl from Sierra Leone originally named Mabinty Bangura who does not have much. However she is happy because she has what she needs: a loving mother and father. This is the story of how young Mabinty’s life was changed in the blink of an eye and how she had to find hope in such gruesome times.
The book begins with Michaela standing backstage about to perform her dream role: the black swan. She explains to the readers how the second she steps on stage she is no longer Michaela DePrince, instead she is the black swan. Soon after this happens, the magical bubble that she encaptured us in, is popped. We are in Sierra leone in 1996 with her mother and father in a small, mud shack that they call home. Michaela is genuinely happy until one day, when her father is killed in the mines. Devastated, her mother and her move next door to her cruel uncle's house. He could care less about them, which causes Michaela’s mother to become very ill. She dies shortly after, and her uncle forces the small three year old to walk all the way …show more content…
She walks into a room full of young girls like her, praying that she will make friends. To her dismay, almost all the girls are scared of Mabinty because she was born with a harmless disease called vitiligo that causes her skin to look spotted. Luckily one girl, also named Mabinty, befriends her. This sparkes hope in young Michaela again even though the war in Sierra Leone is going on and horrible things are happening. As a small child, she saw things that no child ever should; her school teacher murdered, countless bodies lying dead on the street and so much more. The only motivation for her was a magazine page with a picture of a ballerina on it. After suffering long enough at the orphanage. Her best friend Mabinty and her were adopted by the same
The book begins with Michaela standing backstage about to perform her dream role: the black swan. She explains to the readers how the second she steps on stage she is no longer Michaela DePrince, instead she is the black swan. Soon after this happens, the magical bubble that she encaptured us in, is popped. We are in Sierra leone in 1996 with her mother and father in a small, mud shack that they call home. Michaela is genuinely happy until one day, when her father is killed in the mines. Devastated, her mother and her move next door to her cruel uncle's house. He could care less about them, which causes Michaela’s mother to become very ill. She dies shortly after, and her uncle forces the small three year old to walk all the way …show more content…
She walks into a room full of young girls like her, praying that she will make friends. To her dismay, almost all the girls are scared of Mabinty because she was born with a harmless disease called vitiligo that causes her skin to look spotted. Luckily one girl, also named Mabinty, befriends her. This sparkes hope in young Michaela again even though the war in Sierra Leone is going on and horrible things are happening. As a small child, she saw things that no child ever should; her school teacher murdered, countless bodies lying dead on the street and so much more. The only motivation for her was a magazine page with a picture of a ballerina on it. After suffering long enough at the orphanage. Her best friend Mabinty and her were adopted by the same