The Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker

“The Chance to Fly” by Ali Stroker is a captivating novel about a thirteen-year-old girl named Natalie (Nat) Beacon. Nat’s dream has always been to be a star on the stage, to perform for hundreds of people in the crowd, all with their eyes and ears on her. However, her parents would much rather she take up a sport she’s already exceptionally good at, wheelchair racing. Because of an accident Nat had, she’s been stuck in a wheelchair since right after she could walk. But when the family moves from California to a small town in what seems like the middle of nowhere, Nat’s lifelong ambition might actually come true, but only if she can get her parents to agree.

Nat needs her parents to agree. All the people in the theater seem so great. Kind, friendly, and best of all, people who don’t judge Nat or treat her differently because she’s in a chair. Nat just knows she’ll fit right in. Auditioning for the musical “Wicked” seems perfect for that, there’s even a character in a wheelchair, Nessarose. But what Nat doesn’t remember is that this character gets granted the power to walk, and she sadly can’t. After facing all of the problems in theater, she also has to get her parents to let her go, and hearing all these issues makes her think that there might be no way into the musical.

One thing I undoubtedly loved about this novel was how Stroker used the musical and Nessarose as a metaphor for Nat’s life, stuck, unable to be free from her chair. It’s not just about a kid who loves theater for no reason. Stroker is able to magnificently weave theater with Nat and also how persistent she is and how she has never given up and certainly won’t now, just like some of the characters in “Wicked”.