Dance with Rosie (Ballet Slippers) - Softcover

Giff, Patricia Reilly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140385592 ISBN 13: 9780140385595

Publisher: Puffin, 1997

Synopsis

Rosie tries to make up with her former best friend and get into ballet class after the sign-up deadline

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

With two skinned knees, short hair "chopped off for the summer by Albert the barber" and a male best friend, Rosie, the heroine of Giff's inviting new Ballet Slippers series, doesn't seem a likely candidate for ballet lessons. But the plucky narrator has always wanted to fill the satin slippers of her late grandmother, a ballerina. When a ballet school opens in town, Rosie is sure her big chance has arrived, until she realizes she's missed the sign-up and the class is filled. To make matters worse, she and her best friend are feuding?though she's not sure what the tiff is all about. With characteristic agility and wit, Giff rights all that's wrong, although (in the swiftly moving plot's single snag) it is not entirely clear why Rosie is suddenly able to join ballet class after she sneaks into the studio and chats with the piano player. Readers will be immediately drawn to Rosie's resilience and humor. At one point, she tries to cover up a faux pas in class: "I kept smiling. I made believe I was way ahead of everyone else instead of miles behind.... Everyone would think I had learned a special step from my famous ballerina grandmother." Readers will also cotton to Giff's encouraging message about the power of determination. The second installment, Rosie's Nutcracker Dreams, is also due this month; Starring Rose is due next February. Ages 7-11.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4?A new series from Giff for the easy chapter-book crowd. In the first title, Rosaleen O'Meara wants to be a ballerina like her late grandmother. She has obstacles to overcome, including the fact that she forgets to sign up for lessons on registration day. Also, her best friend isn't speaking to her, and she doesn't know why. Rosie eventually gets into class, but her petty meanness makes her future look less than rosy. In Nutcracker Dreams, she desperately wants the part of Clara, but then the story takes off in other directions. Giff integrates ballet terms into the text, but there are not enough details about dance lessons to excite students of the ballet, or to encourage others to want to learn. In reading the first title in the series, some children may feel that they've missed a previous introduction to the characters, and they're unlikely to care about them. One or two black-and-white line drawings appear in each chapter. Libraries with an audience for Giff's "Polk Street School" series, or the "Hola Amigos" series may wish to add this one. Otherwise, pass on it.?Sharon R. Pearce, San Antonio Public Library, TX
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0140385592
• ISBN 13: 9780140385595
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 80
• Illustrator: Durrell Julie