BALLERINA FLYING

Most of the titles on ballet for little girls deal with the motivation to dance or the artistic expression of ballet, rather than the particulars of what happens in class and specific dance movements. Brandenberg (Chop, Simmer, Season, 1997, etc.) fills this gap with a simple first-person story about a girl named Mina, who dreams of dancing so well that she will feel as though she is flying. She gets ready for class, describing her dance attire, and then goes through an entire session with the basic ballet positions and movements. The movements are illustrated with the clever device of the ballet teacher on the left-hand page (with the French term and English pronunciation under the illustration) and a beginning dance student attempting the same movement on the right-hand page, defining the term within the text. Brandenberg’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations have a naïve charm well suited to her slightly chubby children (including two boys), who are obvious beginners with lots to learn. This simple introduction will work well to prepare younger children before starting lessons or to reinforce the concepts taught in every beginning ballet class. (Picture book. 3-6.)