As a budding young ballerina, I was simply in love with A Very Young Dancer by Jill Krementz. I used to just lose myself in those marvelous photos until the pages were as dog-eared as the copies in the used bookstores that now carry it.

So when I saw the new Ballet
for Beginners by Mary Kate Mellow and Stephanie Troeller, it
brought me right back to that same place–dreaming that one day I’d be
the girl being whisked off to the Kingdom of Sweets on a magic sleigh
with a prince and a mouthful of marzipan

Ballet For Beginners
is an excellent step-by-step instruction book, glossary, and
daydream-inciter from the two moms behind the beloved Prima
Princessa DVDs. It features vivid, detailed descriptions on
everything from creative movement for toddlers to basic barre work to
advanced choreography (oh, those pas de deux), all brought to
life with excellent photos of the gorgeous students of New York’s School
of American Ballet.

The tone is refreshingly non-condescending
which means I don’t mind reading it out loud to my girls. And while they
love the trademark cartoon fairy who
guides you through the pages, her presence on the cover might even be a
bit misleading;
there’s no reason a tween or young teen ballet lover wouldn’t just adore
this book
too. Especially considering the majority of the chapters focus on
advanced ballet classes and performance.

If nothing else, it’s a
great help for me to convince my daughter each week that see, you
HAVE to wear your hair up at ballet class. Which also brings me
back. Payback, I suppose. –Liz

Find Ballet

for Beginners by Mary Kate Mellow and Stephanie Troeller from our
affiliate Amazon, and find used copies of A
Very Young Dancer for a whole lot of money there too.