The Ballet Book by Darcey Bussel
Covering everything from basic positions to the finesse of a pas de deux, this inspiring book will help your child pursue the elegant dance form of ballet. Perfect your port de bras and learn how to dance adagio and allegro. You will even find out the best way to look after your ballet shoes and ensure your make up is just right for your first night on stage. Using gorgeous photos of ballet dancers and easy-to-follow instructions, one of the world’s finest ballet dancers Darcey Bussell will teach you various poses, jumps, and exercises, as well as advanced moves and pointework.
(Ages 7-10)
Fancy Nancy: Budding Ballerina by Jane O’Connor
Ballet has never been fancier! Fancy Nancy loves going to ballet class with her best friend, Bree. But when she realizes that her dad and the rest of her family have a lot to learn about ballet, she has a fabulous idea. What if she opened her own ballet school?
(Ages 3-6)
The Night Before My Dance Recital by Natasha Wing
It’s the night before a young girl’s first dance recital. At the dress rehearsal, she and her class go over the steps one last time. What if she messes up? she worries. But the next day, she’s ready to perform. When the class spins left she spins right! Without missing a beat, she keeps on dancing and smiling. The Night Before My Dance Recital celebrates this with humor, warmth, and engaging illustrations by Amy Wummer.
(Ages 3-7)
Stomp, Wiggle, Clap, and Tap: My First Book of Dance by Rachelle Burk
Channel toddlers’ energy and help them develop balance, coordination, and control with the help of this engaging choice in dance books for toddlers. Moving along with the story will help stimulate little brains and provide a fun, creative way to build spatial awareness. Tons of colorful pictures offer toddlers visual clues for the movements, and rhyming words make reading aloud feel like music!
(Ages 2-5)
Swan Lake by New York City Ballet
This lavishly illustrated book follows the storyline, choreography, costumes, and sets of the New York City Ballet’s production of Swan Lake. This magnificent retelling is a perfect gift for an aspiring ballerina or any family who wants to add this enchanting and classic tale to their library.
(Ages 3-6)
Tallulah’s Tap Shoes by Marilyn Singer
It’s summer, and Tallulah is excited about going to dance camp. She’ll get to take plenty of ballet classes. She’ll have to take tap, too, and she’s NOT excited about that. She’s never taken tap before, so she’ll be a beginning beginner. And she’s right—tap class is not much fun. Plus there’s a girl her same age who’s maddeningly good at tap dancing. But that same girl isn’t very good at ballet . . . could it be that she and Tallulah have something in common?
(Ages 3-7)
Today I’m a Dancer by Marisa Polansky
In Today I’m a Dancer,kids will follow Ellie, and see the various dances she learns including flamenco, tap-dance, line-dance, ballet, and hip hop. Filled with colorful images and fun dance vocabulary, kids will get a taste of what it’s like to be a dancer.
(Ages 1-4)