The Tutu Ballet by Sally Lee

My daughter, a sucker for cute animals and ballet immediately fell in love with this book. This book speaks to inclusion and diversity by the authors choice of characters. Fillipo the Fox is a male ballet dancer, Belinda the Bear still has her baby fat, and of course all of the animals are a different color.

The pastel artwork is absolutely fabulous and several pages stand alone as an artistic experience with very little text.

In the story, each animal has a different talent which gives the ballet teacher a challenge when putting together a recital. In the end, each dancer showcases their extraordinary talent such as twirling, jumping, kicking, and plier (what is the correct verb for plie?). The ballet students are cheered on by their parents at the recital.

This book would be a wonderful read for aspiring ballerinas, as well as preschool and kindergarten age children. Sally Lee shines as an artist and keeps the storyline simple for young children.

I would recommend this book for ages 3-6. Young readers may have trouble reading the book because the font runs letters together. My only suggestion would be to improve the font in future editions.