Of Swans, Sugarplums and Satin Slippers: Ballet Stories for Children

by Violette Verdy, Marcia Brown (Illustrator)

The stories of six ballets, including "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Firebird."

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Short Stories, Fantasy, Classics

90 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so wanted to like this book, because the author, Violette Verdy is truly one of the nicest people I've ever met. Unfortunately, this book is just not well made. There are too many pages of text, and the illustrations often appear before the description of the events, so there is no connection between the two. The illustrations are beautiful, especially the ones from The Firebird. (I want to see this ballet one day. The costumes have got to be amazing!) This book would not work as a read-a-loud to multiple children, but it might work with older elementary students who are already interested in ballet. This book could be used as an introduction to the ballets before seeing them performed, but I had a hard time keeping interested while reading this book I think it will be a tough sell to children.

[Faloni © · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️🙏 I love my friends.. 🐣 🩰💕💕
🐣 We really just had 🐣 a dance off at 3am! 🩰 💕🥰💕

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This hasn't been checked out in my grade school library in a long time. I am going to keep it for my high school scholastic bowl to use for studying, though.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

HAs five main ballet stories with pictures (great intro to ballet, but found the musical pieces online to go with some on "Classical for Kids" site). My four year old liked some, but a few were wordy so I condensed. Maybe better for 6 and up.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book full of the great (and sometimes terrifying) fairy tales that make up ballet plots. I love the artwork - kind of ethereal, which is what I expect from the ballet genre.