Review - Angelina's Big City Ballet

Angelina's Big City Ballet
by Katharine Holabird
illustrated by Helen Craig
Date: 2014
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

For the first time ever, Angelina is visiting the most famous city in Mouseland: the Big Cheese! She can’t wait to explore the city and perform her fairy ballet. But her cousin Jeanie tells Angelina that tap dancing is much better than ballet. How can the two girls overcome their differences and learn to work together in time for the big show?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I've known about Angelina Ballerina, the little dancing mouse, for a while, but I'd never had a look at any of the books about her.  Angelina's Big City Ballet is a cute little story about a ballet-dancing mouse who visits her city cousin, who is a tap-dancing mouse.  The plot is a fairly straightforward one, about differing opinions, and the girls eventually work out their differences to put on a great show.

The illustrations are cute, and the writing is solid.  I probably would have liked this book (along with the other books about Angelina Ballerina) when I was a child, since I was really into ballet when I was in kindergarten; this little mouse and her adventures would have been right up my alley!

Quotable moment:

At last the big night arrived, and Angelina and Jeanie joined all the other young dancers backstage at the Big Cheese Dance Show. When Angelina saw the beautiful stage lit up with lights, and the eagerly waiting crowds, her tail tingled with excitement.

Recommended to: young children who enjoy dancing and anthropomorphized characters

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.83 out of 5