My List of Picture Books featuring Ballet and Dance for Young Children. Happy International Dance Day!

Ballet and Dance in Picture Books

My choice of picture books for young children featuring ballet and dance. Including storybooks and activity books. Happy International Dance Day!!

TIGER IN A TUTU BY FABI SANTIAGO

PICTURE BOOK 3+

A striking picture book about a tiger who aspires to be a ballet dancer in Paris. Against all the odds he follows his dream and with a little help from his new friend finally performs in a proper theatre. The bold limited palette really captures the French capital and the twilight world of theatre life. Enchanting and inspiring with the lovely sentiment that nothing is impossible this is the perfect present for little dancers everywhere.
ISBN: 9781408336885 HB Orchard Books £11.99

5/5 Stars

Ella Bella Series by James Mayhew

Stories of a little student ballerina being whisked away into the words of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and the Nutcracker (isbn below). Beautiful illustrations and a real delight.

Orchard ISBN-: 978-1408314081

Ps. James has a great blog to check out
James Mayhew Blog

Dogs Don't Do Ballet by Anna Kemp

Funny and heart warming story of a Dog who Dreams of Being a Ballerina

Simon and Schuster ISBN: 978-1847384744

Tutu Tilly Series by Adele Geras

Tilly's adventures as a ballerina including My Ballet Dream and Little Ballet Star and The Ballet Class(isbn below)

Orchard ISBN: 978-1843624134

Angelina Ballerina Series by Katherine Holabird

A Series of adventures of a little mouse who is a ballerina. Picture Books

Puffin ISBN- 978-0723271666

Fairy Pop-Up Ballet Tree

A beautiful 3D pop-up tree with movable pieces, press-out fairies and decorations, fun fairy facts and a novelty pocket

Macmillan ISBN 978-0230760301

How to Draw Princesses and Ballerinas by Fiona Watt 5+

Aspiring artists can choose from gorgeous projects including a Sugar Plum Fairy, a Fairytale castle and a Princess Sleepover. With simple step-by-step instructions, children will be able to produce satisfying results time and time again.

Usborne ISBN 978-1409566366

Ballerinas, Usborne Sticker Fashion by Leonie Pratt 5+

Dress the ballerinas up in different costumes with 400 stickers provided

Usborne ISBN 978-0746076583

Ballet and Dance in Children's Fiction 7+

Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson

A historical romance in which one Harriet Morton comes to life only when she attends her weekly ballet class in 1912. She finds her fortune as a dancer, but all the time she is followed by her father and by the man intent on becoming her husband. A great read for Ibbotson fans and a modern day classic!
Picador ISBN- 978-0230014848
Children 9+

Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfield

The story of three sisters going to stage school, the youngest being an inspiring dancer. A Classic.

Puffin ISBN- 978-0141334424
Children 9+

Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfield

When their mother dies, leaving them orphaned, Rachel and Hilary are sent to live with their aunt, who runs a troupe of dancing girls -'Mrs Wintle's Little Wonders'. Hilary, a talented dancer, settles there immediately and loves the chance to dance every day. Rachel finds it more difficult to fit in. She's also got another worry on her mind. Her mother's dying wish was for Hilary to attend the Royal Ballet School. But Hilary seems to have other ideas! Another classic

Hodder ISBN- 978-0340626634
Children 9+

Magic Ballerina Series by Darcey Bussell

A delightful series of stories about different little ballerina's on various adventures. The first one is called Delphie and the Magic Ballet Slippers.

Harper Collins ISBN- 978-0007286072
Children 7+

Book Review of Hope in a Ballet Shoe/ Taking Flight by Michaela and Elaine DePrince

Hope in A Ballet Shoe UK Title
Taking Flight US Title

Synopsis
The extraordinary memoir of Michaela DePrince, a young dancer who escaped war-torn Sierra Leone for the rarefied heights of American ballet.

Michaela DePrince was known as girl Number 27 at the orphanage, where she was abandoned at a young age and tormented as a “devil child” for a skin condition that makes her skin appear spotted. But it was at the orphanage that Michaela would find a picture of a beautiful ballerina en pointe that would help change the course of her life.

At the age of four, Michaela was adopted by an American family, who encouraged her love of dancing and enrolled her in classes. She went on to study at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre and is now the youngest principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has appeared in the ballet documentary First Position, as well as on Dancing with the Stars, Good Morning America, and Nightline.

In this engaging, moving, and unforgettable memoir, Michaela shares her dramatic journey from an orphan in West Africa to becoming one of ballet’s most exciting rising stars.
My Musings
An extraordinary powerful story of a young girl who becomes orphaned in Sierra Leon against the backdrop of civil war. Despite seeing horrendous atrocities and experiencing personal tragedy she remains strong and stoic.
One day in the orphanage she sees a picture of a ballerina and from that day on it is her ambition to become one against all the odds. Michaela is adopted by wonderful and inspirational couple who take her to live in USA where they encourage her ambition. Again she has to deal with a new culture , racism in daily life and in the ballet world but still she is undeterred. Despite enormous obstacles Michaela never gives up on her dream and today she is a ballerina with the Dutch National Balet.
A young women with true grit and determination that is a role model for young women everywhere in all walks of life. A black female dancer in classical ballet is a rare thing but this book highlights and begins to address an issue. Michaela is breaking the mould, as far too few have done before her. I really hope this inspires others to follow in her footsteps and forces other ballet companies to take notice of talented dancers they have previously dismissed for no other reason than the color of their skin.  There is a very long way to go but every journey starts with one step. If Michaela has done all this by 19 I look forward to her future achievements.

This book is a triumph over extreme adversity. A must read whether your a ballet fan or not!

Out in the UK October 2014

Links 
Books for Ballet Lovers Non Fiction 
Taking Flight Official Website

Book Review The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Synopsis

A gripping novel set in Belle Époque Paris and inspired by the real-life model for Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen and a notorious criminal trial of the era.

Paris. 1878. Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventy francs a month, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work — and the love of a dangerous young man — as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modelling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Antoinette, meanwhile, descends lower and lower in society, and must make the choice between a life of honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde — that is, unless her love affair derails her completely.

Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.”

My Musings
Two sisters who struggle to survive in the underbelly of society in The Belle Epoque of Paris. Both have dreams that lead them to make wrong decisions and you are drawn into this dark and mysterious world of the not so glamorous life in the theatre. You can see and smell  their Paris in which young girls used and abused by rich men. This is fascinating tale based on fact that Buchanan has spun into a vibrant dark world. These few threads of truth draw the reader in and really make us care about the girls and their survival. There is something magical about The Little Ballerina by Degas and the book really imagines and brings life to the art of Degas. Particularly fascinating to me was the relationship between Degas and Marie, the younger sister who models for him for a couple of yearas. It is an impersonal and cold relationship of a voyeur studying his model and creating something beautiful and sensuous. This love and passion are strictly kept for his drawings, paintings and finally the creation of his statue. There is no real friendship from him or caring or interest. The love in the book is imbued into the relationship between the sisters and what they will sacrifice for each other. A beautiful dark novel for those interested in ballet, theatre, art and historical novels.

For more books on ballet or art see my two book lists below
A List of Books for Ballet Lovers
A List of Books For Art Lovers

Darcey Bussell talking about her life

Darcey Bussell talking about her life and career as a Prima Ballerina on BBC Iplayer

Darcey Bussell on Iplayer