Showing posts with label ballet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ballet. Show all posts

Book Review: The Cranky Ballerina by Elise Gravel

The Cranky Ballerina is a picturebook written and illustrated by Elise Gravel. Ada hates everything about ballet class, yet she still has to go! Then one Saturday, Ada pliĆ©s right out the door and into the hallway, smacking into someone who thinks her ungraceful moves are great! Her mistake might just lead to a wonderful new adventure for Ada.

The Cranky Ballerina is another winner from Gravel. The illustrations are wonderful, and the thought bubbles keep the flow and energy of the book at a constant level. Ada is an energetic and plucky young girl who wants to go her own way. she does not like ballet, and does not feel like she is good at it despite the rehearsals she is dragged to. I like that Ada dislikes ballet, not because of what it is, but because she just does not feel like it is right for her. She pits in an honest effort, and it just does not click with her. when she stumbles into the perfect solution I was delighted on several levels. I like that her new activity is not necessarily a 'girl' activity, but something that she takes to right away with no thought to gender roles. i have to admit that I see a bt of myself, and my daughter, in Ada's stubbornness and love for something other than what is the suggested activity for her.

The Cranky Ballerina offers readers a book in which the author clearly understands how her youngest readers feel, and offers them understanding and support through fun books that just might help their adults understand them a little bit better as well, and remember how they felt when they were younger themselves.

Early Book Review: Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! by Bob Shea

Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! is the latest easy reader by Bob Shea. It is currently scheduled for release on February 2 2016. Ballet Cat is getting her friend Butter Bear ready for her big ballet debut. Butter Bear would prefer to just point her toe, rather than take big leaps like Cat. When Ballet Cat keeps pushing, Butter Bear gets hungry, then thirsty, then sleepy, making up all sorts of excuses. Butter Bear would rather do almost anything to avoid making a big leap. Why? Because her bottom is covered in silly underpants and she is afraid to be laughed at.
Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! is a funny easy reader, and holds up to my expectations of Shea. I like that Cat and Bear enjoy their rehearsing, and that in the end Cat understands Bear's fears and encourages her friend to ignore the peanut gallery and do what really makes her happy, and what is best for her. The fact that Bear's underpants are simply awesome and almost as cool as her big leap- and that Cat's underpants are just as colorful- make the story even better. The illustrations are typical Shea, which means they are a great match to the story and perfect in their cuteness and simplicity. 


Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! is the second book in Shea's Ballet Cat series. If you liked the first, or the author's style in any way, then this will be another fun read for you.

Book Blitz: Off Balance, Book 1 of Ballet Theatre Chronicles, by Terez Mertes Rose

Off Balance, Book 1 of Ballet Theatre Chronicles by Terez Mertes Rose

Book Description:

Alice thinks she’s accepted the loss of her ballet career, injury having forced her to trade in pointe shoes onstage for spreadsheets upstairs. That is, until the day Alice's boss asks her to befriend Lana, a pretty new company member he’s got his eye on. Lana represents all Alice has lost, not just as a ballet dancer, but as a motherless daughter. It’s pain she’s kept hidden, even from herself, as every good ballet dancer knows to do.

Lana, lonely and unmoored, desperately needs some help, and her mother, back home, vows eternal support. But when Lana begins to profit from Alice’s advice and help, her mother’s constant attention curdles into something more sinister.

Together, both women must embark on a journey of painful rediscoveries, not just about career opportunities won and lost, but the mothers they thought they knew.

OFF BALANCE takes the reader beyond the glitter of the stage to expose the sweat and struggle, amid the mandate to sustain the illusion at all cost.


Author Bio:
Terez Mertes Rose is a writer and former ballet dancer whose work has appeared in the Crab Orchard Review, Women Who Eat (Seal Press), A Woman’s Europe (Travelers’ Tales), the Philadelphia Inquirer and the San Jose Mercury News. She reviews dance performances for Bachtrack.com and blogs about ballet and classical music at The Classical Girl. She makes her home in the Santa Cruz Mountains with her husband, son and too many cats. She loves good food, good wine, and a good (but not too hard) adult ballet class. She also publishes under the name Terez Rose.

Author website:  www.terezrose.com
Author blog site: www.theclassicalgirl.com  
Author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/terez.rose
Amazon order page: http://amzn.to/1bEGmmY