Ballet Bunnies

by Joan Elizabeth Goodman

Time for ballet class! The bunnies brush their ears, wash their whiskers, and put on their special dance clothes. They warm up, practice their positions, exercise at the barre, hop, skip, wiggle, and dance! Children will enjoy reading this unique and rabbity look at a day in the dance studio, portrayed in adorable acrylic-paint illustrations.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

Joan Elizabeth Goodman is an American writer and illustrator.
She was born in Connecticut in 1950 and was raised in an artistic household. Goodman attended L' Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, from 1969-70, as well as the Pratt Institute, B.F.A., 1973.
She has written several novels of highly acclaimed historical fiction. She lives with her husband and their two children in New York City.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute little book with bunnies showing how they do ballet class (get dressed, warm up, positions and moves). It would probably be confusing to someone who doesn’t know the words/moves (e.g., grand jeté, chassé).

I’m giving it four stars because I appreciate that (a) there are both brown and white bunnies, and (b) although some bunnies are shown in t-shirts and leggings and some are shown in leotards and tights (with or without skirts), there’s no gendered language used, and they all wear the same color slippers.

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I am reviewing this as I sit dressed ready to go to my own ballet class!)

I really wish these were not ballet BUNNIES, but children, because this is an excellent little book about ballet class. All proper terminology is used and I like the very careful details--not just "this is first position", but how the feet are placed, how the arms are placed both at the barre and during the center work, etc. I also like the fact that girls AND boys are in the class, and that the girls are not all fripped up--one wears a filmy dance skirt, and several have hair bands, but there are no tutus or extra frills.

This would be excellent to hand to a child about to start ballet, or even an adult that wants to learn some of the basic steps. If only the boy rabbits didn't make me think of Marc Brown's "Buster".....

[Joenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An instructional ballet book using bunnies to demonstrate. Goes through basic arm and foot placment and beginning steps. Has captions for movements and a glossary in the back. Cute!

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using bunnies as characters, book shows clothing, steps/positions and other activities of a ballet class. Girls enjoyed and participated along with the actions.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book, to make it effective I'd have to do the steps along with Noor.