My youngest daughter took ballet this past year and it was adorable. I was a dancer from early childhood until the end of high school and I was so excited to hear that my three-year-old wanted to try ballet. Seeing her dance recital brought me an immense amount of joy. I’m not sure she’ll choose to continue with lessons in the future but I sure hope she will. Here are the ballet books we have really enjoyed reading together.
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If you have a young child I would recommend starting with Bea at Ballet. It covers the very basics of ballet including what boys and girls would wear to class. The book shows toddlers learning dance positions and enjoying the class.
There are three books in this series if your child ends up liking Miss Lina’s Ballerinas. It reads like the Madeline books in regards to the phrasing of sentences and rhyming structure.
Miss Lina’s class of ballerinas dance all over the community but everything gets messed up when a new girl is introduced to the class and all their formations must be reworked.
My girls are big fans of Fancy Nancy. In Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet, Nancy can’t wait to perform in her class’s ballet recital and she is determined to be a mermaid but gets cast as a tree instead. After feeling sorry for herself, Nancy decides to make the most of it and embrace her part although some feelings of jealousy arise when her best friend gets to play a mermaid.
Ready for the Spotlight! is about a little sister who is jealous that her older sister is so much better at ballet and gets all the attention. But when it comes to freestyle dancing, the little sister has all the moves.
The older sister is cast as the lead in the ballet and the little sister gets cast as a bumblebee. She is disappointed. Then the older sister explains how she was a bumblebee in a past production and that they could help each other practice for the show.
John’s Turn is a very simple book with only a few words that features a boy dancing. At John’s school, each child gets to present their talent and John decides to show off his dance moves. The book illustrates him getting dressed, being nervous, and then dancing with spins and multiple dance positions. At first, kids question what he is going to do but there is a lot of applause at the end.
Misty Copeland wrote Bunheads about her experience of auditioning for the ballet Coppelia as a young girl. It was clear from the beginning of her ballet classes that Misty had a lot of talent.
This is a beautiful book and a great way to introduce a famous ballet and ballerina to young children.
Tallulah’s Tutu features a little girl who is convinced that with a tutu she could be an amazing ballerina. But you don’t get a tutu as a beginner so Tallulah quits. Now everywhere she turns she is reminded of ballet and how much she enjoys dancing.
In another Tallulah book, Tallulah’s Toe Shoes, the young girl is back in ballet classes but now wants toe shoes more than anything. Unfortunately, she is too young to dance in pointe shoes. Tallulah secretly takes a pair of toe shoes to practice with at home and it doesn’t quite go as she planned.
Ready to Fly is the story of an African-American girl who wanted to become a ballerina but was turned away from lessons because she was black. The child ends up teaching herself how to dance by reading books and giving lessons to her friends.
After a talent show, she is invited to audition for a teacher and earns her spot in a ballet school. Eventually, she becomes a professional dancer and owns her own ballet studio.
The classic ballet is described in the book Swan Lake full of gorgeous illustrations.
Ballet Kids shows pictures of standard ballet terms which I found helpful.
The book starts with Thomas getting ready for ballet class. The class stretches with a male teacher, then the children move to the barre, and next dance to music.
The ballet students get to pick out their own costumes for The Nutcracker show. Thomas picks out the Sugar Plum Fairy costume. He’s nervous about performing but it ends up being a magical night.
In Teo’s Tutu, a young boy loves to dance and wear a tutu. When it comes time for him to decide what costume to wear on stage he needs to choose between pants and a sparkly tutu. Will people support him if he wears a tutu?
We love all the books in this series. They are always in the cadence of The Night Before Christmas. The Night Before My Dance Recital shows ballet students changing into costumes, the curtain opening, etc
A stunning book, An Invitation to the Ballet, is full of beautiful illustrations and tons of detail about the theater as a whole. The book takes the reader backstage through all the different departments and rooms. Included are summaries of some of the famous ballets. A few of the pages fold out so this is not a book for young toddlers. It is text-heavy, though my four-year-old loved this book. We chose to read a few pages a night.
If you enjoyed this post take a look at my other children’s books recommendations.
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