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The Tutu Ballet |
Author: Sally Lee
Published: 2008-09-05 |
List price: $17.99
Our price: $17.99
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As of: January 08th, 2009 01:07:12 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Reviewed by Cynthia Murphy for Breeni Books
Children's author Sally O. Lee is back with another beautiful book, The Tutu Ballet. This is a fun children's book with an enjoyable story and great illustrations. The plot is simple. Ms. Berry, the local ballet teacher is planning a recital for her ballet class. Unfortunately, each student excels in a different step. How is Ms. Berry supposed to choreograph a recital for this group? She decides to let each student do the step that he/she does best. The result is the best ballet ever.
One of the things that I love about this book is that it celebrates the differences among the characters. Each character has his own favorite step, and that's okay. Lee doesn't stress conformity. Instead, the ballet teacher, Ms. Berry praises each student's signature move. Ms. Berry even goes so far as to build a whole recital around their differences. (As someone who has spent a lot of time in dance studios over the years, I found this a bit hard to believe. However, it does make for a great ending.)
As with Lee's other books, The Tutu Ballet features beautiful pictures. The colors are vibrant, and the textured look is amazing. Lee creates her illustrations with a combination of watercolor and pen and ink on paper. The result is a stunning set of illustrations that will delight young readers. I am constantly amazed by Lee's work. She even has her type set in a custom font. This level of detail is impressive.
Lee captures the excitement and anxiety of a child's first dance recital. It is hard to say who is more nervous- the students or their parents. The recital itself is depicted beautifully. Lee gives a step by step account of the dance that should appeal to all readers. She uses plenty of action verbs to describe both the class and the show. This technique makes the story come alive for non-dancers.
The Tutu Ballet is a fun children's book. It will probably appeal most to little girls who take ballet, but it has enough comedy to keep others interested as well. The illustrations are beautiful, and the story is enjoyable. It celebrates differences among dancers and people. Overall, I think it is Sally O. Lee's best book yet.
 Cute book for young ballerinas
The illustrations are colorful and engaging, and the story has a nice lesson for young girls. I did like the way the characters have their own unique talents, which independently wouldn't make a good dance, but when they all work together, they have a wonderful show. Teamwork is a great lesson for the target audience, and my daughter also related to the fact that some girls in her own ballet class have different strengths than others. The book is cute, and was well received by my 6 year old. Definitely a book we'll read more than once.
My kids liked it
My 4 year old twins girls are learning to read, and they really enjoyed this book. It was creative and very "girlie".
 Not reality based
I chose this book to review because I took ballet as a girl for several years, and my daughters have also taken some ballet. The premise of this book is basically, dance to the tune of your own inner drummer. That is a good lesson, separate from ballet, in my opinion. In reality, if a child is in a ballet class of any seriousness, the ballet teacher is not going to let each child do only the steps they like. If you are looking for a book about being an individual, I would look elsewhere, like the Todd Parr books (It's Okay to Be Different, The Feel Good Book, etc.).
The artwork of the book is lovely, although the light-weight text is placed on some darker parts of the painting and makes it very difficult to read in some places. It made it really hard to read out loud to my 4 year old daughter, because I had to stop in several places to try to figure out what the words were.
Bottom line, if you are looking for a ballet book specifically, I would not recommend this book. Ballet is an art form that demands poise, respect and discipline of the student. If the would-be ballerina is not interested in being this type of student, then other forms of dance should be sought out.
 Story is lacking
I got this book because my daughter loves dancing and ballet. The story is a little weak and the illustrations are rather unappealing. The story is supposed to teach "tolerance, patience, creativity, teamwork, and love." Allowing the students in ballet class continue to do only what they like is not really teaching teamwork. I think the author could have given the teacher a little creativity to get the students to try something new and practice teamwork for the recital.
In the end, the story needed some work, but most of all my daughter doesn't really like this ballet story. For a better ballerina story about patience, tolerance, teamwork and friendship, try The Little Ballerinas by Jillian Harker.
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