To Dance by Siena Cherson Siegel & Illus by Mark Siegel

This is a lush and elegant look at the world of dance from a teen ballerina's perspective. 

Siena Cherson Siegel was part of the New York City Ballet and her husband is an artist. So together, they created something to charm anyone who dreams of ballet or who loves a well crafted graphic novel. 

Running on the beaches of Puerto Rico where she was born. 

The endpapers at the front. Which come full circle to the endpapers at the end. Which is so nice and symmetrical. 

Siena was a dancing child, loving movement and rhythm. However, doctors said that with her flat feet there was really no point in her taking dance lessons. However, her mum was no dummy and let her take dance classes anyway. 

After seeing a performance of The Swan, Siena was completely captivated. It was all she could talk about, how the ballerina entered so completely into the performance that she was the swan, dying unwillingly. 

With that performance spurring her onward, she dove into ballet with all her energy. 

Her passion and talent began to be noticed. Finally she was offered an audition to train with the New York City Ballet.

Intimidation in the form of Madame Tumkovsky. 

In the rarefied world of ballet, all the important people were Russian. And wore black. 

Ballet took even more of her life now. But there were rewards. Like finally getting her first pair of toe shoes. 

Oh the delight of those toe shoes! 

So much to do and so much to learn. Like how to wear Japanese robes while wandering around backstage. 

Loving ballet as she did, she would stand backstage to watch the dancers even when she wasn't dancing, learning as she watched how to be the principal ballerina. 

Across the stage, also standing in the wings, was Mr. B, George Balanchine, the director of the NYC Ballet. 

Life went on, with a few speed bumps in the form of arguing parents and friendships. 

But always, always ballet.

Being seeped in ballet so much helped her see ballet all around her. Even in football games in Florida with her father. 

But there were times of normalcy, being a teenagers in the 1980's in New York City. 

After an ankle accident at eighteen, her ballet career was chopped short. She had to shift her life focus completely, but eventually she began to dance again, not professionally, but because dancing "...fills a space in me." 

And then the endpapers at the back, as she is dancing across the beaches again with her baby and husband in tow. 

Emma and Julia Love Ballet by Barbara McClintock

 

I really like Barbara McClintock illustrations. They remind me a bit of Peter Spier. I also really love this story. It follows a little girl and her ballerina idol through their day. I think there is still a little girl inside me, fascinated by the elegance of the ballet.

 

I really appreciate books with somewhat frothy roles for African Americans. There is a huge body of literature of amazing African Americans, which is so important, but the frothy and less serious roles are much more limited. Which is a shame.

 

This is a recent book, published this year, and I can't help but wonder if it is based loosely on Misty Copeland's becoming the first African American principle dancer in the American Ballet Theatre last year.

 

And I apologize for the odd picture colors. My computer decided to malfunction (who needs a computer when you are taking five online graduate classes anyway?!) so I don't have access to the original files to change them. And downloading them from here and then changing them seems unnecessarily complicated. So just imagine they are not blue.

 

They are different sizes, but they both love ballet. Which is the important thing.

Both wake up. Both have ballerina pictures on their walls.

 

Both go to ballet...

 

...and work hard.

 

But then, Emma goes home to get ready for a ballet performance, while Julia stays put to get ready for a ballet performance.

 

An evening at the ballet. Behind the curtains, in front of the curtains.

 

Those chandeliers---so magnificent!

 

Julia, getting ready with the other ballerinas.

 

Julia, as the star.

 

Being fabulous.

 

And then they meet.

 

Isn't the poufiness of her skirt fabulous?

Swan, The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlola by Laurel Snyder & Illustrated by Julie Morstad

This is a gorgeous book! Delicate, fairy like drawings, and the sparsest, simplest prose. It is one of my favorite picture books of last year.

Oh these endpaper pictures! I can just feel the yearning.

Anna Pavlova was born the daughter of a laundress in Soviet Russia. There was very little of magic and delight in her life. Until one night, her mother and Anna go to the ballet. "You are going to enter fairyland," her mother tells her.

In the audience, a young Anna Pavlova has an awakening.

Back in their little apartment, Anna dances to the music still playing in her head. 

After a few years of dancing to that music, she tries out for the ballet. She is turned away. 

Two years dance by, and Anna tries again. 

But this time, oh? Oh yes!

Then begins the work. 

She works and works.

Until one night she takes the stage....

Anna becomes a glimmer, a grace. 

Everyone feels it, and the lamps shine brighter. The room holds its breath. 

It shouldn't be that she should be this good. 

Her legs too thin, her feet all wrong--and ooh, those toes!

She is only a girl--so small--so frail--

but

see her face, her flutter?

Anna becomes famous for her swan.

Kings and dignitaries entertain her.

Anna believes firmly that ballet belongs to everyone, not just the rich. She travels the world, dancing in bullrings and in local dance halls to share ballet with the masses.

The various roles of Anna.

Anna helping young girls

And then, in 1931, Anna gets out of a stalled train to see why it was stopped. She catches a cold that quickly moved into pneumonia. 

Her fever climbs higher and higher. She calls for her feathers, to do the Swan one last time, but dies before it is ever danced. 

Her last words--"Play that last measure very softly."

Everyday must end in night.

Every bird must fold its wings

Every feather falls at last and settles.

Oh, thinks Anna. If only every dance could end in such sweet applause.

Isn't that the most beautiful way to deal with death you have ever seen in a children's book? It is. 

Oh, this is such a beautiful book.