Ballerina Dreams
Ballerina Dreams
Lauren Thompson; James Estrin (Photographer); Joanne Ferrara
When you first pick up this pink book with the three little girl ballerinas on the cover, you think this will be a book your little girls will love, and that's true. But the very young dancers—Nicole, Shekinah, Veronica, Abbey, and Monica—are not your everyday dancers. While they've always wanted to dance just like other girls, all of them have cerebral palsy or other muscle disorders, and some use wheelchairs or walkers to get around. Nevertheless, they take weekly ballet classes with their ballet teacher, physical therapist Joann Ferrara, and prepare for their upcoming recital. Dressed in pink tutus and ballet shoes, they perform onstage for cheering parents, friends, classmates, and teachers. This winning and inspiring color photo essay, printed on pink paper, takes the girls, each assisted and physically supported by a helper, through their performance of three dances. The final pages profile each girl, their teacher, their helpers, and provide information on cerebral palsy.
Themes : DANCING. PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES. PERSEVERANCE.
CRITICS HAVE SAID
- The colorful photographs of this dancing community working toward a common goal accurately and sensitively capture the struggles and joyful enthusiasm of all of the participants.
–Carol Schene, School Library Journal
- This touching story would be a useful resource in an early childhood educational setting as an example of individuals with different abilities or disabilities, and its message of determination in the face of adversity is one that parents and educators of children of all ages would find useful.
–Children
- This touching story would be a useful resource in an early childhood educational setting as an example of individuals with different abilities or disabilities, and its message of determination in the face of adversity is one that parents and educators of children of all ages would find useful.
-
- The text is pithy but leaves the reader with great admiration for Ferrara and the difference she has made in these little ballerinas’ sense of confidence and self-worth.
–Kirkus Reviews
- The text is pithy but leaves the reader with great admiration for Ferrara and the difference she has made in these little ballerinas’ sense of confidence and self-worth.
IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:
- Carlson, Nancy L. Arnie and the New Kid. Viking, 1990. ISBN-13: 978-0440845768
- Cowen-Fletcher, Jane. Mama Zooms. Scholastic, 1993. ISBN-13: 978-0590457750
- Damrell, Liz. With the Wind. Orchard, 1991. ISBN-13: 978-0531058824
- Geras, Adele. Time for Ballet. Dial, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0803729780
- Isadora, Rachel. Max. Macmillan, 1976. ISBN-13: 978-0021790456
- Krementz, Jill. A Very Young Dancer. Random House, 1976.
- Stadler, Alexander. Lila Bloom. Farrar, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0374344740