“I learned from an early age that if I wanted to pursue my dreams, I would have to work for it.” Ready to Fly is a true story about Sylvia Townsend, an African American girl who falls in love with ballet after seeing Swan Lake on her family’s second-hand television set. But opportunities to learn ballet are limited and Sylvia can’t find a school that will teach her. That’s when the local bookmobile provides another possibility. A librarian helps Sylvia find a book about ballet and the determined seven-year-old, with the help of her new books, starts teaching herself the basics of classical ballet. Each week, the bookmobile returns, and the librarian makes sure to have new ballet books for Sylvia. Soon, Sylvia learns how to fly—how to dance—and how to dare to dream.