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 secondhand 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 books about ballet, and the determined seven-year-old, with the help of her new books, starts teaching herself the basics of classical ballet.