First Ballet - Hardcover

Caswell, Deanna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1423113535 ISBN 13: 9781423113539

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009

Synopsis

The lights, the velvet curtain, the spotlight, the graceful dancers—nothing beats going to the ballet for the very first time.  In this beautiful picture book,  Deanna Caswell and Elizabeth Matthews conspire to recreate all the joy and wonder of the first theatrical experience, for children to relive again and again.
 

About this title

About the Author:

Deanna Caswellhas been a nanny, lab tech, teacher, waitress, calculus tutor, counselor, and mountain guide. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry, a minor in Math, and an M.A. in Family Therapy.First Balletis her first picture book. Her second,Train Trip, comes out in Fall 2010.
Elizabeth Matthewsis the author and illustrator ofDifferent Like Coco.A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she lives in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.

From Booklist:

With rhyming couplets and captivating illustrations, this title from a debut author captures a child’s first, thrilling experience at the ballet. Together, the words and pictures build suspense as a young girl and her grandmotherly companion wait first in the chilly ticket line and then in their velvet seats among the hushed audience. At last the curtain rises, and the rhythmic lines convey the girl’s excitement: “Daring jumps. Heart thumps. / Music swells. Goose bumps.” A few vocabulary words (“Polished movements. Poised finesse”) will be a stretch for the youngest listeners, who will look to the ink drawings, washed in rich color, to fill in most of the story. Young balletomanes will delight in the small, focused pictures that show a ballerina moving through specific poses, from pirouettes to grand pliés, while panoramic stage and audience views translate the magic as “a dream unfolds on pointed toes.” Christmas trees on stage suggest a holiday (or Nutcracker) performance. Still, this will make a good, year-round choice for young children headed off to the theater for the first time. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Gillian Engberg

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1423113535
• ISBN 13: 9781423113539
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Matthews Elizabeth