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Bad News Ballet #1
DRAT! We're Rats!
Five young girls are thrust into the Deerfield Ballet's holiday production of The Nutcracker with only one thing in they don't want to be there! McGee's busy with her ice hockey team. Zan would rather be reading a good mystery. Mary Bubnik is a total klutz. Gwen prefers Twinkies to plies . And Rocky is just too cool for pink tights. How could their mothers possibly think ballet is good for them? Cast as the Rats and labeled losers by the more serious ballerinas (the Bunheads), in desperation the girls turn to each other, especially after the Bunheads lock the Rats out of the theater. Can they triumph over all the odds and pull off a real ballet in front of an expectant audience? This comic tale of preteen misfits is a wise tribute to the power of friendship and the pleasure of being yourself.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
4 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Jahnna N. Malcolm
100 books74 followersJahnna N. Malcolm is the pen name for husband-and-wife team Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner. Together they've written four musicals, two movies, three CD-ROM games, and nearly one hundred books, including the popular series The Jewel Kingdom. They met in the theater and were married on the stage using Marlowe's famous love letter from "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" as their wedding vows.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 13, 2023
This was sooo 80’s and I loved it!
March 17, 2014
I read this series as a child and remember not being able to put it down.
A group of awkward, misfit girls trying out for the Nutcracker? Perfect for my late bloomer, pre-teen self!
After rereading as an adult, I can still see the draw. Silly, childish problems and feuds that seem like the end of the world, when really a little common sense and common ground is all it takes to set things right again. A time when your girlfriends were the most important people in the world and an argument with one of them is just about the worst thing you can imagine.
The writer captured all of that without talking down to her young readers or making these problems seen trivial, yet still showing how quickly things can be fixed. I look forward to adding this to my daughter's "frivolous" (if any reading could really be called that...) section in her collection of books.
A group of awkward, misfit girls trying out for the Nutcracker? Perfect for my late bloomer, pre-teen self!
After rereading as an adult, I can still see the draw. Silly, childish problems and feuds that seem like the end of the world, when really a little common sense and common ground is all it takes to set things right again. A time when your girlfriends were the most important people in the world and an argument with one of them is just about the worst thing you can imagine.
The writer captured all of that without talking down to her young readers or making these problems seen trivial, yet still showing how quickly things can be fixed. I look forward to adding this to my daughter's "frivolous" (if any reading could really be called that...) section in her collection of books.
August 24, 2017
oh my GOD i remember this book so clearly, it's insane how quickly it came back to me just upon seeing the cover. as a kid who did ballet and was always the fat outcast of whatever class i was in, this book spoke to young me on a deep level. i have no idea how it would hold up 25 years later, but i loved it to death at the time.
October 25, 2025
Generally, I liked it.
It's a cute and fun story about a group of outcasts each in their own way, how they became friends and have to deal with different problems besides the bullies in their ballet class.
It's a cute and fun story about a group of outcasts each in their own way, how they became friends and have to deal with different problems besides the bullies in their ballet class.
July 18, 2020
very funny
April 12, 2022
Just as good as I remember from when I was a girl.
June 24, 2024
I loved these books as a kid and searched for them long and hard to recreate the magic. They were originally called "scrambled legs". It's setup for the early 80s-90s. No mobile or internet. A group of girls who are misfits but in each find a special and unique friendship. They start by hating each other and ballet classes but that changes soon enough as they find their group in each other and a hangout in a nearby wornout cafe.
July 19, 2024
Maybe I’m weird, but I read the original release of this book when I was 8 or 9, and the book has stayed with me since then. I recently discovered they’d been released as ebooks, and rebranded “Bad News Ballet” so I purchased them, mostly with Kindle credits.
Man, the 80s was a wild time.
Let’s dive into the cast: McGee, the tomboy who plays hockey, and hates being known as Katherine. Gwen, the fat, red headed, smart girl who’s always eating. Mary Bubnik, always called by her whole name, and is as clumsy as Gwen is fat. Zan, the tall, thin black girl who reads mysteries. And Rocky, the military brat who likes to beat people up.
The book’s premise is simple: the 5 girls are trying out for the Nutcracker in Deerfield, Ohio. No one really wants to be there, and all of them are lousy at ballet. So they end up screwing up in various ways, and get cast as rats. Mice. Depends on who’s talking.
Stuck as rats, mice, whatever, they bond over the process, befriend a guy named Hi Lo who runs a Chinese food and Pizza joint, and end up deciding they’re going to keep doing ballet because it’s the only way they can see each other.
As a kid, I loved the books. I admired Rocky, thought I was McGee, the tomboy, but really, I was the smart, fat Gwen, without the red hair and glasses. I was clumsy like Mary Bubnik (who’s always called by her full name) and I read a lot like Zan. So I could see myself in all the girls. And ballet seemed romantic to an 8 or 9 year old country girl.
As an adult, in the world we live in now, the books are nostalgic, but I wince when I read them. The casual stereotyping of each character is frustrating. Gwen’s always eating. Mary Bubnik is always tripping over her feet.
The good things about the book, even now: the friendship is the important part. The girls are independent. The parents show up, in parts, but ultimately, it’s the girls and their friendships and scrapes. They get locked outside at one point, and they have to fix the problem, not rely on a grown up. And there’s not a lot of ballet. That’s actually good, because the story centers on the girls, not the technical aspects of ballet.
Man, the 80s was a wild time.
Let’s dive into the cast: McGee, the tomboy who plays hockey, and hates being known as Katherine. Gwen, the fat, red headed, smart girl who’s always eating. Mary Bubnik, always called by her whole name, and is as clumsy as Gwen is fat. Zan, the tall, thin black girl who reads mysteries. And Rocky, the military brat who likes to beat people up.
The book’s premise is simple: the 5 girls are trying out for the Nutcracker in Deerfield, Ohio. No one really wants to be there, and all of them are lousy at ballet. So they end up screwing up in various ways, and get cast as rats. Mice. Depends on who’s talking.
Stuck as rats, mice, whatever, they bond over the process, befriend a guy named Hi Lo who runs a Chinese food and Pizza joint, and end up deciding they’re going to keep doing ballet because it’s the only way they can see each other.
As a kid, I loved the books. I admired Rocky, thought I was McGee, the tomboy, but really, I was the smart, fat Gwen, without the red hair and glasses. I was clumsy like Mary Bubnik (who’s always called by her full name) and I read a lot like Zan. So I could see myself in all the girls. And ballet seemed romantic to an 8 or 9 year old country girl.
As an adult, in the world we live in now, the books are nostalgic, but I wince when I read them. The casual stereotyping of each character is frustrating. Gwen’s always eating. Mary Bubnik is always tripping over her feet.
The good things about the book, even now: the friendship is the important part. The girls are independent. The parents show up, in parts, but ultimately, it’s the girls and their friendships and scrapes. They get locked outside at one point, and they have to fix the problem, not rely on a grown up. And there’s not a lot of ballet. That’s actually good, because the story centers on the girls, not the technical aspects of ballet.
April 1, 2013
I went to a book fair for my 2 youngest sisters' school district recently and walked out with a plastic bag full of old-school goodies. But the ones I was most excited about were these ballet books. When I saw the cover for the first one, I immediately said "Oh my gosh! I remember these!!" I had completely forgotten about them, so it was a pleasant surprise. Have you ever had a book moment like that? You pick one up and the cover triggers a memory and you can remember everything about that moment when you first read it? Yeah, that was me lol. Okay, so how are the books themselves? Well, the first is the best probably. (I'd say out of the whole series, even though I haven't read the rest.) The late 80s was a time when they were churning out middle grade series left and right (kind of like dystopian trilogies now!) and some of them worked (ahem, BSC) and some didn't. This was one of the average, middle-of-the-road ones and it's probably a good thing it didn't last too long. Following the formula of the time, this is a series about a specific activity, ballet, a group of friends (usually girls, usually 10-12 years), and their trials and tribulations.
"McGee, Gwen, Mary Bubnik, Zan, and Rocky are five misfit ballerinas." I'm not sure why they call Mary Bubnik by her full name all the time. So, these 5 girls don't really have anything in common, except they were all forced to join a ballet class by overbearing parents. They band together in class when a group of snotty "bunheads" makes fun of them. None of the girls are quitters, so they decide to stick it out, even when they get cast as the rats in the Nutcracker. Lots of hilarity ensues as the girls deal with new steps, ugly costumes, and mean girls. And of course, in the end, they are successful in their performance and the best of friends. Read my full review here!
"McGee, Gwen, Mary Bubnik, Zan, and Rocky are five misfit ballerinas." I'm not sure why they call Mary Bubnik by her full name all the time. So, these 5 girls don't really have anything in common, except they were all forced to join a ballet class by overbearing parents. They band together in class when a group of snotty "bunheads" makes fun of them. None of the girls are quitters, so they decide to stick it out, even when they get cast as the rats in the Nutcracker. Lots of hilarity ensues as the girls deal with new steps, ugly costumes, and mean girls. And of course, in the end, they are successful in their performance and the best of friends. Read my full review here!
November 1, 2022
Somehow, as an elementary school reader and dancer in the late 80s, I missed this series when it came out. Of course, after I heard about it, I had to go back and read it.
This first book wasn't bad. At first the book seemed cute: a group of 5 misfit "ballerinas" are forced by their mothers to try out for a local performance of The Nutcracker. After a while, though, I thought I wouldn't like the book--it was just too much like every other 8-11-year-old reader series (The Babysitters Club, etc.)--but as I continued, I got more into it. By the end, I was into it, and will be more than willing to read the rest of the series if I find the books.
I rate this book (and thus the rest of the series, if the rest are like this one) Would Read the Rest, But Wouldn't Hunt Them Out.
This first book wasn't bad. At first the book seemed cute: a group of 5 misfit "ballerinas" are forced by their mothers to try out for a local performance of The Nutcracker. After a while, though, I thought I wouldn't like the book--it was just too much like every other 8-11-year-old reader series (The Babysitters Club, etc.)--but as I continued, I got more into it. By the end, I was into it, and will be more than willing to read the rest of the series if I find the books.
I rate this book (and thus the rest of the series, if the rest are like this one) Would Read the Rest, But Wouldn't Hunt Them Out.
April 29, 2009
First in the series. I read what books of these I could find because I enjoyed ballet stories, but they were never my favourites. Give me Drina any day!
May 8, 2015
I can't remember which ones I did and didn't read, so I'm just adding the first one, but I LOVED this series. I remember wishing there were more of them.
Read
June 5, 2016Wow, this is another reminder of the past. So wish I still had all my young adult books :(
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews