Young Thoughts of Ballet

It is fascinating to me – now as an adult, a teacher, and a parent – to see when the "dream of a ballerina" fills a young child's daydreams, especially young girls. I was indeed that child. 

At the K-8 school in which I teach dance full-time, the head librarian recently mentioned to me that Jill Krementz's book A Very Young Dancer still gets checked out. The copyright on this book is 1979. I love that it has held up all of these years, but I am also surprised at how few good, accurate, and inspiring books are available to young ones swept up in the idea of ballet.

Today I would like to highlight two ballet books.

Ballerina!  by Peter Sis is available as a board book and hardback/paperback. It is perfect for children 2-6 years old. What makes this a good ballet book is two-fold. The action words are lovely: twirl, leap, tiptoe, reach, dip, flutter, and float. Second, Sis nicely references the major ballets in the book: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, etc. 

Second, I love Rachel Isadora's On Your Toes: A Ballet ABC.  This book is a more unique alphabet book with illustrations of young boys and girls. The language of the book references dance steps (develope, arabesque, etc) as well as elements used in ballet (music, costumes, etc.) Students ages 4-7 will enjoy this book. While out of print, you can easily find used copies  on the internet. 

Ballet books can so easily fall into stereotypes, and I encourage you to check out these two book suggestions for a fresh take on ballet.