Books: Ballet Books for Pre-teens

[Skittl1321]

ami- The Royal Ballet School Diaries is a fiction series. The (british) author probably just researched the school.

 

And a list of books according to age appropriateness. (These are all for younger kids because they come from the Penguin Young Readers Group Backlist.)

 

Dancer by Lori Hewett (12+)

Kids Dance: The Students of Ballet Tech By Jim Varriale (9-12)

Who is Maria Tall Chief by Catherine Gourley (8-12)

Ballet Bug by Christine McDonnell (8-12)

Ballet School: What it Takes to Make a Dancer by Camilla Jessel (7-11)

Ballet Slippers Series by Patricia Reilly Giff (7-11) 6 books about Rosie

Ballet: A Troubador Color and Story Album (6-12)

 

Ten Little Ballerinas: A jewel sticker stories book (3-7)

Belinda the Ballerina by Amy Young (3+)

Nina, Nina, Copy-cat Ballerina by Jane O'Conner (4-6)

Nina, Nina, Star Ballerina by Jane O'Conner (4-6)

Nina, Nina, Ballerina by Jane O'Conner (4-6)

Tanya Books by Patricia Lee Gauch (3-6) 6 books

Brothers of the Night by Debbie Allen (5+) Not ballet specific, but men dancing

Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen (5+)

Emily's Ballet Book by Claire Masurel (2-6)

Emily's Dance Class by Cliare Masurel (2-6)

Hooray for Ballet by Margaret Frith (5-9)

How can you dance? By Rick Walton (4-8) not ballet specific

I wear my tutu everywhere! By wendy Cheyette-Lewison (4-8)

Lili at ballet by Rachel Isadora (3-8)

Little Ballerinas (4-8)

Marie in Fourth Position: The story of Degas “The Little Dancer” by Amy littlesugar (4-8)

Not just tutus by Rachel Isadora (5+)

Pretty ballerinas: A sticker style book (4-8)

Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina By Maria Tallchief (4-9)

 

Time for Ballet by Adele Geras (2+)

T-Rex at Swan Lake By Lisa Carrier (3+)

We are Ballerinas: A sticker story book (3+)

 

Dancers: A costumes for Coloring book by Roberta Collier-Morales (7+) Not ballet specific

Edgar Degas Paintings that Dance by Kristin Cole

 

Belinda in Paris by Amy Young (3+)

[minty]

thank you !

[Hamorah]

I would like to add some of the now rather old-fashioned series of ballet books, which I adored as a child and which I know are still available in paperbook. Noel Streatfeild is still my favourite. "Ballet Shoes" is the most well known, but I actually prefer "Wintle's Wonders", which is often called "Dancing Shoes". The books were mentioned in the film "You've Got Mail" so I presume that they are still very popular!!! Then there is the series of books by Jean Estoril, which starts with "Ballet For Drina" . There are about 15 books in the series, which follows Drina through ballet school to company. Very old fashioned language, but quite addictive and true to life (as it was then). These are all available on Amazon.

 

Finally there are the Sadlers Wells series of books by Lorna Hill. A Dream of Sadlers Wells (renamed Dress Rehearsal) is the first one. For those of a different generation Sadlers Wells was the Royal Ballet before it got its Royal Charter. These are difficult to get hold of.

[ballet_anna]

The series of books "Ballet for Drina" is my favourite ever, set in London but Drina travels around Europe as well. Seriously highly recommended for any ballet lovers, I'm sure many many days could be spent with these on the porch swing!!!

 

btw, i'm 20 now but even aged 10 or so they were my favourite books, i think the old fashioned, english style of writing is very charming and helps make the books absolute classics!

[dancelyssa]

My favorite author of theatre fiction is Noel Streatfield. Books I have read by her are:

Ballet Shoes

Theatre Shoes

Movie Shoes (aka The Painted Garden)

Dancing Shoes (aka Wintle's Wonders)

Skating Shoes (aka White Boots)

Party Shoes

The books with two names are simply that they were published under one name in Britain and a different name in the United States.

I believe Streatfield also wrote the following books which I have not read:

Tennis Shoes

Circus Shoes

Family Shoes

Ballet Shoes for Anna

 

The Royal Ballet School Diaries, the younger girls at my dance school read them. The first three I believe are called:

Ellie's Chance To Dance

Lara's Leap Of Faith

Isabelle's Perfect Performance

They are about a girl named Ellie, who moves to Britain from Chicago with her mother and is accepted into Lower School at White Lodge.

[pinkpointes101]

Out of the Royal Ballet School Diarie's I read Ellie's Chance to Dance and Lara's Leap of Faith. They were really good. I didn't know there was a third book in that series!

[minty]

well, actually, there are six of them now !

[BelaNina]

There are two more on the way, as well! My 9 year old daughter and I have read all 6 together (we like to trade off reading chapters of books to each other).

[Guest Iwishtobeonpoint]

My 11 year old little sister owns all of the books.

[little_dancer123]

There is also a seventh one now, going into the second year. The pictures on the front are girls at the Royal Ballet School. A few things are wrong though, I still read them over and over! From little_dancer123 x

[blochbuyer]

The Gemma series is great, there are 4 books

Apple Bough

 

These are by Noel Streatfield and one of the children in them is always a talented dancer

 

Samantha on stage

The Drina series

[AmaLari]

My 6-year old loves The Royal Ballet School Diaries series! She also enjoyed the Ballerina Dreams series by Ann Bryant.

 

She's a rather precocious reader and found that the books geared towards her age group were too silly and didn't deal with the thoughts of a dancer as seriously as she does herself. LOL

[Guest flaca]

It's so sad in spanish there aren't that kind of books. I'm just starting to learn english, so may be in a few months I can read those books you are talking about.

[Ms. KLS]

My 11 year old little sister owns all of the books.

I'm curious, does your sister like them because of the subject matter, the characters or the writing?

[LilBalletDancer1993]

Has anyone read the "Sadlers Wells" series by Lorna Hill? I've read them all but the last three (rather difficult to get a hold of! The books by both authors are old now...) and they are amazing!!! The "Drina" books by Jean Estoril are lovely too, and also "The Ballet Family" "The Ballet Family Again" and "The Ballet Twins" by Jean Estoril (but written under her real name of Mabel Esther Allen) are good, too.

I love both these authors, they are my favourite ballet authors!!! It's a shame their books are out of print now, and have to rely on being lucky on ebay and amazon but when you do get to read them it's great If you haven't read them, check them out!!!