Angelina Ballerina Pirouettes Into My Daughter's Dreams (Angelina, Ballerina - Katharine Holabird)

Member Name: Hishyeness

Product:	Angelina, Ballerina - Katharine Holabird
Date:	18/06/09 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautifully illustrated. Lovely story.

Disadvantages: Ballet specific terms may confound philistines like me

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INTRODUCTION
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We are expecting baby No.2 due in October, so in anticipation of assuming full bedtime duties for our pre-school daughter once the new arrival comes home, I have been taking a more active role in her bedtime routine. Once the jimjams are on, the teeth brushed, and the tinkle tonkle done, its time to choose the bedtime book.

In the past few weeks I have slowly become more and more familiar with the sizeable library of children's books at my daughter's disposal - some new and some tatty - and learning her pet names for her well thumbed favourites.

Amongst these are two books featuring an adorable little mouse called Angelina Mousling who dreams of becoming a ballerina. My daughter has affectionately christened these as her "bally books" and they get a run-out at least once a week.

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AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR
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The story is written by American author Katharine Holabird and is illustrated by Helen Craig, a Londoner now resident in Cambridgeshire. They have been working together on the Angelina series since its creation in 1983, which, along with the twenty-one original books, has spawned a veritable cottage industry of merchandise including DVD's, games, ballet accessories and TV shows, as well as dolls and other toys.

In 2001, HIT Entertainment, who also own the Bob the Builder, Fifi and the Flowertots and Thomas franchises, created an animated TV series which aired in the UK from 2001. An all-new animated series is slated for Autumn release in the UK on Nick Jr.

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PRICE & AVAILABILITY
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"Angelina Ballerina" is the first in the series, and our edition is a 24 page hard cover published in 2001 by Puffin (an imprint of Penguin). It measures around 8 inches by 10 (slightly smaller than a sheet of A4) and comes with dust jacket. It was bought as a gift for my daughter's 4th birthday, so the giver obscured the RRP on it. As such, I am not sure of the price, but in any case, a quick search on-line shows that the book is currently only available in soft cover, with an RRP of £6.99 (currently discounted to £5.19 on Amazon).

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THE STORY
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Angelina Mousling simply loves dancing. In fact, she loves it so much, she often forgets about her chores. Even at night, all she dreams about is being a ballerina. She takes every opportunity to practice her curtsies, twirls and high leaps, often landing herself into trouble and causing her parents concern.

Then Mr Mousling has an idea. He buys her some pink ballet gear and signs her up for real ballet lessons. She attends Miss Lilly's ballet school where she twirls, jumps and curtsies to her hearts content. She no longer feels the need to dance anywhere else, so the chores get done, and she becomes a great little helper for her Mummy. After practising really hard for many years, she becomes the world famous Mademoiselle Angelina - a prima ballerina.

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THE ILLUSTRATIONS & TEXT
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The drawings are beautiful, colourful and expressive, and really help bring the story to life. Every page has a main "set piece" illustration, with smaller ones interspersed through the rest of the text. The nuance and detail in each demands closer attention, and I usually find something new each time I read it to my daughter.

The story is simple and easy to follow. The text is fairly large and an ideal size for young readers. I would expect to have to read this to my daughter for a while yet (she's 4), but would imagine she'd manage it on her own in a year or two - provided of course, it stays in her top ten!

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LEARNING POINTS
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The story can be used to teach children the benefit of discipline. Angelina realises her dream by finding a focus for her passion and working hard to achieve her goal. My daughter goes to ballet classes herself, so found the story easy to relate to.

Angelina is a distracted little mouse to start off with, but ends up being a real help to her mother once she starts ballet school. I use this to discuss with my daughter that everything has a time and a place, and you can't do anything you want where and when you feel like it.

There is also some ballet-specific language used in places - such as "plié" (bending at the knees) and "arabesque" (standing on one leg, while the other leg is extended behind the body, with both knees straight) which I was not at all familiar with, and prompted me to learn about them as well.

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VERDICT
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I found this to be a very well written and beautifully illustrated book, so can fully understand the success of the series. My daughter loves it as well, and is quick to pull it out and show me what she did at ballet class by pointing to one of the many illustrations demonstrating a particular ballet move. I guess I'm not too old or too proud to be taught by my four year old. I've certainly taken more of an interest in her ballet classes since we started reading this book together, and for that alone, its priceless.

Highly recommended.

© Hishyeness 2009 - previously published in ciao.co.uk under the same user name.

Summary: A lovely tale that's a firm bedtime favourite for my pre-school daughter.