Grace in Unusual Places
Animals acting human is nothing new in children's books, right? But sometimes, it's funnier than others, and it seems to be especially humourous when they dance, gallop, and clomp their way into the refined and delicate world of the ballet with surprisingly light-footed results. Whether you have a ballet-obsessed child and just can't read one more sweet pink confection or simply have a taste for the absurd, these fun examples are perfect for some shared giggles.
Dogs Don't Do Ballet, by Anna Kemp
This new title is what started this post – it came in, I was finding it a lot of fun, and it made me think of some other old favourites to share! This one is a British import, and it shows, reminding me of both Lauren Child's lola and Charlie books and Tony Ross' Little Princess stories. The dog in this book is "not like other dogs" and prefers dancing to fetching. When he follows his young owner to her ballet class, he is rejected by the teacher, but when he follows her to watch a ballet performance and the principal dancer meets with a catastrophe… he is ready! He leaps to his feet and defies all those people who have told him that dogs don't do ballet, saves the evening, and wows the audience. Seems some dogs do do ballet.
Hen Lake and Peeping Beauty, by Mary Jane Auch
Poulette and her love for the dance get her into hot water with a wolf in Peeping Beauty, as he tries to take advantage and turn her from diva into dinner. In Hen Lake, she and her friends take on a bragging peacock (is there any other kind?) in a homegrown ballet performance. Auch is known for stacking her books with puns that induce groans in paren'ts and gigles in children, and this pair of titles is no eggsception. (See what I did there?) Her illustrations are bold and further the silliness, but for fans of the funny, she's a sure bet. (If you enjoy the combination of cultured poultry and bad puns, you may also enjoy this author's Bantam of the Opera.)
Swine Lake, by James Marshall (ill. Maurice Sendak)
When one big, bad wolf catches wind of an all-porcine ballet production at (where else?) The Boarshoi Theatre, he simply must attend. Dinner on the hoof! What could be more divine? As it turns out, the dancing itself… Enraptured by the performance, the wolf leaps onto the stage – but not quite as planned, for instead of bringing the night to a disastrous end, he finds himself joining the corps of dancers! With a story by James Marshall, a genius of the sillies, and illustrations by kidslit favourite Maurice Sendak, the piroutting pigs make for a great twist on the usual pattern of stories starring the classic fairy-tale baddie, the wolf.
Of all the creatures that you would be surprised to find enjoying a ballet class, perhaps the most unusual (if most actually possible) of this crop is Max, a rough-and-tumble young boy who has discovered that his sister's ballet class is not only to his liking, but also that it is improving his baseball game in ways he would never have anticipated! This older book is a charmer, and its black and white drawings are filled with lovely details and a flock of young dancers sure to look vaguely familiar to anyone who has escorted a child to ballet class.
Got a child who really loves the ballet and needs some girly-girl ballet books? Rachel Isadora's Lili at Ballet and any of Katharine Holabird's Angelina Ballerina books should fill the bill nicely!
One thought on “Grace in Unusual Places”
Those are great reads, and for the girly-girl readers, let’s not forget – Ivy + Bean doomed to dance (by Annie Barrows). Just a reminder that for every mermaid dancer, there must be some squid! This is a chapter book, so may need to be for the 4-6 age range who can hold on to the characters and story theme a bit longer.