The Bear Who Went to the Ballet [Hardcover]

Ages 4^-6. For her birthday, her grandma gives Harriet tickets to the ballet and a teddy bear dressed as a ballerina to take to the performance. When the ballerina bear returns from the theater and meets Harriet's other toys, they laugh at her: "How can a bear be a ballerina?" And, indeed, in Harriet's ballet class the ballerina bear discovers that her arms are too short and her legs too stout and inflexible to execu te the basic positions of classical ballet. Instead, she decides to become a storyteller and gains the respect of the toys by entrancing them with tales from the ballet. Young dancers (who may also have some trouble with the basic positions of classical ballet) will find the rotund ballet bear a sympathetic character, both in the story and in the soft-focus drawings tinted with gentle watercolor washes. Carolyn Phelan