Ballerina Dreams by Michaela DePrince

Ballerina Dreams: From Orphan to Dancer by Michaela DePrince
Random House Children's Books

Rating: 5 stars

Here's a review I did a little while ago for Washington FAMILY Magazine about the true story of one talented, amazing, determined young woman:

I dare you to read this book and not get goosebumps up and down your arm. Michaela DePrince’s rags-to-riches tale is almost unbelievable, from its tragic beginnings to fairytale ending. And it’s all true.

This book is a Step Into Reading book, rated Level 4, geared towards 7 to 9 year-olds. I say this first because DePrince’s story has some difficult facts for young kids to absorb, and the questions kids will likely ask have some sobering answers. Despite the image of the graceful ballerina on the cover, know that this is not your typical ballerina children’s book.

In this easy reader, DePrince glosses over the death of her parents in an age-appropriate way. “My parents died [in Sierra Leone] in an ongoing war.” That sentence will satisfy some readers; others will want to know more. The whole truth is that DePrince was born in Sierra Leone in 1995, during the civil war. Her father was shot by rebels. Her mother starved to death. She was sent to an orphanage with other children with similar stories.

In addition to this tragic beginning, DePrince suffered from vitiligo, a skin disease that made white spots appear on her brown skin. Kids at the orphanage teased her. DePrince worried she would not be adopted because of her imperfections.

While at the orphanage, DePrince saw a ballet magazine and was carried away with the image. When she was adopted (by Elaine DePrince, whose story is equally heartbreaking and inspirational, but not told in this story), she kept the image with her. Her adoptive mother saw it and promised that in America, she could dance ballet.

This is where the story takes a welcome positive turn. DePrince is not the only child adopted by Elaine DePrince. Her best friend is also chosen, and the two friends become sisters in America. They both start dancing, though it is Michaela who excels and advances. Because there are so few African American ballerinas and because she is a superior dancer, she is asked to dance for a documentary about ballet. At her mother’s urging, she says yes. “First Position” was a huge success, and DePrince’s fame grew.

DePrince’s story is incredible—I was so glad that such good things came from such horrible beginnings for this young lady. In case you or your child are curious to learn more, you should know that Ballerina Dreams was written after DePrince wrote and published Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina (2014, Alfred A. Knopf). This is her memoir targeted for young adult audience and goes into more detail about all parts of her story.

I was also glad to discuss this book after my second grade daughter read it. She had a lot of questions about DePrince’s beginnings, and the conversation about war and parents dying wasn’t an easy one. But I think therein lies the beauty of books with difficult subject matter: they provide the opportunity to talk about tragic and sad realities in a safe place, in an appropriate manner, and with a loved one.

Review originally posted HERE.

Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance by Birgitta Sif

Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance by Birgitta Sif

Rating: 5 stars

Frances Dean was a little girl who loved to dance. "When no one was around, she would feel the wind and dance..." With the woods as her backdrop, the birds as her backup, and the geese and duck as her audience, she danced and danced and danced.

But when people were around, she stopped.  She felt their eyes on her, so she just stood still, waiting for them to pass. There were too many people and she stood for too long, so she forgot how to dance, and she forgot the joy she felt when dancing.

As she walked home, trying to figure out how to get her joyous dancing back, she stumbled across a little girl, much younger than she, singing a happy tune.  The girl saw Frances Dean, but had the courage to keep on singing, no matter whose eyes were on her. That night, Frances Dean thought of the little girl and how she kept singing, regardless of who or what was around her.

In the morning, Frances Dean woke up and, with a little help, remembered how much she loved to dance and dance. She practiced dancing in front of and with others.  She started small--with birds--then graduated--to a cat and dog--then, finally, with an old lady in the square. The little girl with the happy tune dance and sing together, being true to their own voice while also sharing their love with their world.

Stories like this--especially with whimsical, magical illustrations like those Sif produces --touch a special place in my heart right now, as Lorelei begins to navigate some of the "un-fun" aspects of girlhood in elementary school. The teasing isn't so bad right now, but it is teasing to keep her from being best friends with a boy (a gem of a child, I have to add), going to the barn she rides at now (the other girls go to a "better" barn), and stuff like that. We use the words, "What's the truth in your heart? Do you know what you really want to do?" She knows: be best friends with Garrett and ride that pony Mo. But...courage to Lorelei for keeping on being Lorelei.  (Who's a gem of a child, too, I think.)

Check out Birgitta Sif's first picture book Oliver and these other dancing books if you like this one:

A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey
Rupert Can Dance by Jules Feiffer

A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey

A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Rating: 5 stars

I'll get right to the moral of this story: Dreams do come true.

Don't you just love it already?

Meet one little girl--a little black girl--growing up in the 1960s who wants, more than anything, to be a ballerina.  Her mother works at the ballet school; she cleans and sews costumes there. She is heartbreakingly close to where she wants to be, but is not allowed in. (Do they not have the money? Or is it because black students are not allowed? Dempsey never says, though I infer the latter.) This little girl tries on the costumes, and twirls around and around, practicing moves she's seen but not been taught in the fanciest of all fancy costumes. She wishes on stars and cradles hope for her dream to come true.

"Brava, ma petit," he told me.

One day, while waiting in the wings with her mother during a show, this little girl dances the entire dance, having memorized it from the wings.  The Ballet Master sees her, watches her. When she finishes, he cups her face with his wise, white hands and says, "Brava, ma petite. Brava."

Her hope grows a little.  In Dempsey's words, "That's when hope picked my dream up from the floor of my heart, and it started growing."

The Ballet Master made an arrangement for this little girl to dance in the back of the class each day, one black girl behind many white girls.  But all have the same dream: to become a prima ballerina.

Then one day, her mother tells her that it has happened. The first African American has become a prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera House! Her mother scrapes up the money for the two of them to go, to watch Miss Janet Collins on opening night.

It's like she's dancing for me, showing me who I can be.

This one little girl in the audience stands to applaud and yell "Brava!" at the top of her lungs and her hope soars just like Miss Janet Collins soars across the stage.

This is a beautiful book in many ways.  I love the simple story of a little girl dream that might become true, and I love how she works hard for her dream, and doesn't give up on herself. I love how her hope grows and grows and grows throughout the story.

If there is a little dancer in your family, I hope this book finds its way to a shelf near her (or him!).

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Rating: 5 stars

Delightful.  Delight-filled!

Here's a feisty, silly bathing beauty, happy to mimic a regal, haughty flamingo while he dances regally, ignorant of his human shadow.  Using lift-the-flaps, Idle brilliantly shows the girl mock the flamingo and then--pull the flap down!--she looks away innocently when the flamingo looks back at her accusingly.  The reader shares the secret of the feisty little girl; the two know what the flamingo doesn't!

Flora copycats the flamingo...

Six pages in and the flamingo has the girl figured out.  One loud squawk leaves the girl tumbling, humbled from her little joke.  But just a few turns later and the flamingo forgives, forgets, and reaches for Flora.  And then...and then!...a lovely duet between the master leading his pupil through a complicated, beautiful dance.  The girl is ecstatic--the look of delight on HER face is so precious.

They dance beautifully until they cannonball into the water in one joyous, silly splash!

This book is so very worthy of the Caldecott honor it received just a few weeks ago.  And it reminds me of the great opportunities wordless picture books provide.  All three of my kids--Lorelei (6 1/2) who is reading advanced chapter books, Ben (5) who is reading solidly, and Kiefer (2 1/2) who is delighted (word of the post) to identify "his letter" K--like this book and all of them can get something out of it.  As a wordless picture book, it is accessible to all of them.

...and is found out in this adorable picture.

Here is a sampling of activities you can do with a wordless picture book:

• Have the child tell the story--even Kiefer can look at a picture and describe what is going on, and then he sometimes pretends to read by adding imaginary stuff or adding tidbits from his day or another book.
  
• Use Post-It notes (Ben's favorite thing right now) to write a story.  You can stick them right onto the pages!
  
• Have your child tell you more about the character. Why is the girl dancing?  How does she feel when the flamingo pushes her away?
  
• Look at the structure behind the book--Lorelei is ready to do this.  What happens in the beginning? What is the problem/conflict?  How is it resolved?  Words don't get in the way in wordless books...
  
• Challenge your reader to write or draw or think up a sequel to the book.  What other animals could this girl dance with or, for breakdancing Ben, what animal could best breakdance with him if he was in a storybook?

Some other great wordless picture books (including my all-time favorite, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola, can be found on my blog here and even more here).

Hooray for Flora, the Flamingo, and Molly Idle!

Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton

Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton

Rating: 4.5 stars

5:14 AM.  Kiefer wakes, not making the happiest of sounds, but I've learned that crossing my fingers and hoping he goes back to sleep actually does not work.  One day my children will sleep in.  I can't wait until they sleep in but have to get up for practice or school or something, and the tables will be turned--I will rouse THEM from their peaceful slumber.  Heh, heh, heh...

Kiefer, and his book basket.

5:20 AM.  I go into his cozy green room, lift him out of his crib and give him a kiss, take his sleep sack off, and plop him down on the rocking chair that I've had in all three kids' rooms.  I pile up his books next to him and he pages through them in his own way.  Upside down, two pages at a time.  He babbles loudly, "reading" each one.  I get him dressed as he moves up and down the chair, from book to book, more awake than I.  We sit here for 5-10 minutes, depending on how interested in the books he is, or how quickly he goes from babbling to screeching.

5:42 AM. Kiefer is kicking back with his Kix as I type.

We are not huge Sandra Boynton fans here, not for any particular reason.  The few books we have of hers are pretty cute, so I should probably check some out for Kiefer from the library.  Barnyard Dance I like because you could easily get up and dance to it: "Hop with the bunny / Dance with the duck / Spin with the chickens now / Cluck, cluck, cluck!"  I'd twirl around with him, but he's just learning to walk.  I know it's sort of an upbeat song for naptime and bedtime, but I'd much rather put him in bed with a smile on his face.

6:03 AM.  Ben calls me from the top of the stairs.  His morning wrestling match with his pajamas isn't working well for him right now, and he's all tangled up in an impressive way.

6:37 AM.  Lorelei is woken up, but it'll take her 40 minutes more to get downstairs for breakfast, and she's not even dressed.  This does not bode well for her teenage years.

7:13 AM.  Clearly I have more things to do than blog.  Off to make French toast, with Ray LaMontagne's "You are the Best Thing" playing in the background.

(Good morning.)

Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen

Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Rating: 4.5 stars

Any "So You Think You Can Dance" fans out there?  I admit that I watch a few too many reality TV shows, and this dance show strikes a chord from my show choir (insert chuckle here) past.  I'll spare you the details of jazz hands and glittering outfits.  Debbie Allen, the author of this book, is a judge on the show and is a famous dancer (so I hear from her on the show).

Even if you don't watch the show, the book is good and the illustrations are gorgeous.  But c'mon, what picture of a ballerina doesn't reach out and grab you?  Doesn't a young woman stretching her legs in an impossible position while balancing on her toes just take your breath away?  If you agree even half-heartedly, then you'll like this book.  Or the little girl in your life will love this book.

Sassy's a young dancer from California who is mercilessly teased for being so tall.  She towers above all the other dancers, and her teachers complain that they can't find her a dance partner to match her height, so she never dances in any of the recitals.  Then, her dance class finds out that there's an opportunity to dance in Washington, DC, for the summer at a prestigious school.  She's not sure she should try out, but she does--in a look-at-me yellow leotard, standing in the front row.  She gets the attention of the Russian instructor for that, but soon holds his attention with the way she moves.

I admit that the picture where she, and only she, makes the cut brought me to tears.  The expression on her face is a mix of shock and awe (in a wonderfully childish way) at herself and her potential, finally recognized by someone important.  She suddenly belives in herself.  She is SO proud of herself, as is her big brother, who is the leader of the pack who teases her about being tall.

This is a beautiful book, and definitely a great one for a little ballerina's library.

Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton

Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

Rating: 5 stars

I give up.  I think I'm going to hand over my blog to my friend Beth, whose book recommendations are out of this world.  Maybe just maybe she'd like to add some of her own posts...with her critic Julia at her side...?!

This book is The Best Dinosaur Book we've read.  Hand's down!  Every time we read it one or both of the kids are bobbing their heads and tapping their feet (or fork, which I try not to encourage!) and we end up turning whatever floor is nearby in a dance floor.  This is a shake-your-bootie book with an awesome rhythm and a "chorus" that Lorelei knew by heart after a few reads:

"Shake, shake, shudder / near the sludgy old swamp. / Everybody's doing / the dinosaur romp!"

Mitton introduces a few dinosaurs--the old faithfuls, triceratops and T-rex and stegosaurus--and throws in some new ones just to make me stop and wonder how the heck to pronounce them: deinosuchus, apotosaurus, deinonychuses (not a typo--it's different from the first one on this hard-to-say list).  But really the best thing about the book is the beat, not the main characters (though dancing like dinosaurs is pretty fun, so Mitton was pretty smart...I mean, sometimes we like to dance gracefully like flamingos, but stomping around like crazy is the best!).

Oh--and the book is illustrated by the same guy who illustrated Giraffes Can't Dance, which is one of our family's favorite books ever.  The dinosaurs all have huge grins on their faces and are really bustin' a move on their dusty dance floor.

My favorite part about this book, though, is the end.  I'm just a sucker for sleepy beasts, and this book ends with all the dinosaurs getting tuckered out and falling asleep in one big reptile heap.  I love my kids like crazy, but I really like them asleep, too.

I know my nieces are going to LOVE this one.  I'm so excited to read it with them!

Miss Lina's Ballerinas by Grace Maccarone

Miss Lina's Ballerinas by Grace Maccarone, illustrated by Christine Davenier

Rating: 4.5 stars

Confession time: I bought this book for a little birthday girl in Ben's class but, once I read it again at home, I couldn't not give it to Lorelei.  So she got it from Santa and we have read it about twice a day for the past week or so.  It is a really fun read--I had no idea how many words and girls' names rhyme with "ballerina!"

Miss Lina teaches a bunch of cute little girls--all dressed in pink, all with names ending with "ina."  Well, not just a bunch.  To be precise, eight.  They danced in four rows of two every minute of the day.  The beautiful illustrations that give Lorelei something to look at more closely when she "reads" this by herself show these ballerinas joyfully leaping at the market, through the zoo, at bedtime, and everywhere in between. 

Enter the bit of adversity: a new ballerina joins the class (luckily, her name--Regina--ends with "ina" too)!  But, wait!  Now there will be nine!  Three rows of three?!  In the beginning, the girls all bump into each other and cause even the super graceful Miss Lina to tumble down.  They just can't get the hang of it.  Miss Lina smiles, and tells them they'll soon realize how delightful three rows of three will be, as soon as they adjust to the addition.  Of course, within a few pages, they do, and they repeat all the things they do in a different line up.  Check out the book trailer (it's about 50% of the text):

This is such a good example of perspective, and how different things can look from the lens of a child than that of an adult.  The girls are "befuddled" at the thought of having to dance in a different lineup, but Miss Lina nods wisely, letting the girls figure out for themselves how to adjust to this change.  What seems like a minor nothing to an adult is a major catastrophe for the child.

Lorelei is of the age where it's helpful to have a book or story to which I can relate a current situation in her life.  We've asked her to move from one room to another in our house, and while we dressed up the new, bigger room with a "big girl bed," a new quilt from beloved Grammy, a dollhouse from Santa (yup, we caved), and we will soon paint it pink...she is still sleeping in her old room.  I don't want to make a big deal out of it and I don't care if the situation stays this way for a few more months because to her, it's a Huge Change to move ten steps down the hall and into a bigger bed.  For us, it's a funny little thing that is actually a gift.  Anyway, it's all about perspective, and it's hard to require a 3 year-old to have one!

This is a really sweet book, a must for any ballet-crazed child!

Ballerino Nate by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Ballerino Nate by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, illustrated by R.W. Alley

Rating: 3.5 stars

Little (dog) Nate sees a ballet with his class at the end of his kindergarten year, and decides that he wants to learn how to dance ballet, too.  His mother finds him a class, but it doesn't start until Fall.  All Summer long Nate dances happily everywhere and anywhere; all Summer long Nate's big brother Ben teases him that only girls dance ballet.  His parents shush Ben every time, simply saying: "That's not true, Ben," to whatever falsehood falls from his mouth that moment.



"Ballerinas all have to wear pink shoes and a dress."

 Finally little Nate goes to his first class.  He loves it!  But he realizes that Ben is right--he's the only boy in the class.  So his mother takes him to a "real" ballet--not just a little school performance by students, but one danced by professionals.  He looks on in awe...the illustration of this is my favorite.  From the stage you see the dancers, but more important you see the whole audience, colored in dim grey, except for Nate and his mother, who are colored in brightly.  Nate is about to explode out of his seat in excitement!  Nate is thrilled to see that nearly half of the dancers are men, and that their roles are integral to the performance.  He even talks to one backstage, who explains that "ballerina" is for the top female dancers, while "ballerino" is the term for the best male dancers.

This is a lovely book that challenges the only-girls-do-this and only-boys-do-that stereotype.  It's a great one to read a few times just to put into your kids' heads, maybe to let them think a little outside of the box, or maybe to provide information that will prevent teasing/bullying later on.  I really like this book, but of course wish that the language was a little softer.  I wish that Ben didn't say "yuck" or "stupid" and that Nate didn't say he "hated" dresses and shoes.  I'm being harsh, I think, because I can't imagine boys saying much else at 5 or 6.  I'm still living in la-la land because my boy isn't saying much at this point!

Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont

Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

Rating: 5 polka-dancing stars!

This is an old favorite of ours, one that beloved Grammy found some years ago.  It's the only book that we have that gives a nod to our Polish ancestry, something that lingers in my sister and I though our last names no longer have a confusing jumble of consonants that somehow sound like "check" or end in "ski."  But, to be honest, it's only a tiny nod, just a good excuse to get this book for anyone and everyone who has a little bit of polka-dancing in their past.

Karen Beaumont is at her best with this swinging poem about a baby who just won't go to bed.  His Ma and Pa keep on putting him to bed and get right to work on some chores around the house like fixing the chow, washing wigs (?!  hey, it rhymes with pig), starching long johns, hauling water and other stuff we don't do anymore but is fun to think about doing.  Except the wig thing.  Ok, and maybe the long johns, too.  But then the baby comes barreling out of his bedroom doing a different dance with a different animal, obviously not sleeping!  First, he polkas with the polka-dotted pig.  Then he boogie-woogies with the frisky little goat, then he cha-chas with the chocolate-colored cow.  You get the idea.

One of our favorite parts when we're reading aloud is opening the flap that shows the polka-ing or cha-cha-ing or boogie-woogie-ing baby and animal, with the last word (the animal) written under the flap.  Lorelei yells it out in her biggest outside voice.  And Ben says "EH!" his favorite word for most everything.  It makes me laugh, and it makes them laugh, and that makes this a great, great book. 

Lorelei ripped the last two pages of the book when she was a baby, and the words are missing.  So when the kids get Daddy to read it, he has to yell from the other room: "What's the last verse?"  And I shout out the words because they are etched in my memory.  For months we'd recite this walking to the mailbox and back, even though we left the book at home.  I am willing to bet that I'll be able to recite it in twenty years, too!

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

Rating: 5 stars

I think that within every children's library there should be a couple of books that are fail-proof giggle-makers or pick-me-uppers.  They should be reserved for those afternoons or late mornings...or even early mornings!...when everyone just needs a good laugh.  The Baby Beebee Bird is one of my family's personal favorites when a mood needs to be lifted, but Giraffes Can't Dance is also in that category.  I'm always looking for more books that make my kids giggle and me care less about the mess around my house--please suggest a few to our little family!

It's like "Lucky" by Jason Mraz; you can't help but smile or tap your foot.  Maybe you don't have days where bedtime seems like two light years away...

So here's the gist of the book: Gerald the giraffe wants to participate in a jungle dance-off but he's clumsy with four left feet.  Everybody laughs at his feeble attempts, so he shuffles away feeling low as can be.  And then he meets a cricket that chirps some wise words: "Sometimes when you're different, you just need a different song!"  So he listens to the music from the jungle itself--the leaves, the trees, the birds, the bugs--and becomes the best dancer of them all.  And he doesn't gloat about it--he's just finally happy with himself.  I like that part best.

This is a great, great read-aloud book that totally lifts me up from almost any pity party I am silly enough to dwell in for more than 4.7 minutes. 

Lili at Ballet by Rachel Isadora

Lili at Ballet by Rachel Isadora

Rating: 4 stars

We were at a birthday party a few weeks ago for a wonderful little girl in our life. It was a "ballet princess" party, and it was full of camera-worthy moments; all the parents on the sidelines ooohed and aaahed over the little dancing girls (and the lone not-so-dancing boy), especially when they donned their Cinderella costumes, complete with tiara and wand. It was all pretty adorable. After the dancing part came the eating part, and a grand tea party was set, complete with real china that made me glad I left freight-train Ben at home with my husband. During the tea party, the "head ballerina" asked everyone who their favorite princess was. When it was Lorelei's turn, she just looked at me. She doesn't know any. We were clueless in the princess part of the party, but luckily we were on board with the ballet part. The ballerina asked her if she knew of any ballerinas, and she said "Lili!" (She was also Lili for Halloween; shamelessly daughter-promoting photo can be seen at the bottom of this post.)

This is the first ballet book that Lorelei read; our neighbor had a girly tea party and gave this book out as party favors. The book is filled with pretty drawings, very true-to-life and descriptive, yet still cute enough to draw in a little toddler or preschooler. There is a story, about how much Lili loves ballet, but there are also descriptions of the pictures, explaining more about the positions or when kids start to practice en pointe, or what characters wear which costume.

If a little girl in your life is into ballet, this is a must read. Rachel Isadora has a bunch of ballet books out there, and we've read all of them. She's a good author and a talented illustrator, so a good author to check out at the library.