Angelina's Big City Ballet

September 15, 2014
The ever popular mouse ballerina returns for her multi-eth adventure. She sails into the Big Cheese, otherwise known as the Big Apple, on a grand ocean liner, with a mouse Statue of Liberty providing a welcome. Also on hand are her aunt and cousin Jeanie, as well as checkered yellow taxicabs from a bygone time. Angelina experiences her first apartment house and elevator, tours the Empire Cheddar Building and sees a Broadway performance of River Mouse. She has come to the city to perform in the Big Cheese Dance Show with her cousin, but there may be a problem. Angelina, of course, plans to dance a ballet, but her cousin is going to perform a tap dance because "[i]t's much better than ballet." Angelina, beset by doubts, practices her routine in the apartment by the light of the moon. Watching her dance, her cousin has a change of heart, and the two mouselings choreograph a combined ballet/tap duet. Adorned in lovely new Roaring '20s costumes, they are a success. Holabird once again gives readers a gentle story, here one of childhood conflict resolution, while Craig's delicately colored pen-and-ink illustrations are a pretty accompaniment. Fans of Angelina and dance will enjoy this very sweet story. (Picture book. 3-6)

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October 1, 2014

K-Gr 3-When the young mouse visits her Aunt Violet and Cousin Jeanie in the Big Cheese, she listens to her cousin rave about tap dancing and worries that her ballet might not be good enough for The Big Cheese Dance Show, the reason she has come to the city. True to her optimistic style, Angelina is determined to put on a good show. She and Jeanie work together to put on their own mix of tap and ballet and are a hit at the show. The bright pastel watercolors match the exuberant ballerina as she explores the bustling city. Fun details will give kids something new to discover each time they read the story. Another enjoyable adventure in the series.-Laura Stanfield, Campbell County Public Library, Ft. Thomas, KY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2014
Preschool-G The latest book in the Angelina Ballerina series takes the little mouse across the sea, where she visits her aunt Violet and cousin Jeanie before her performance in the upcoming Big Cheese Dance Show. Bored by ballet, Jeanie talks excitedly (and relentlessly) about tap dancing instead. Soon, Angelina doubts herself and her art, but she perseveres, practicing the fairy dance she has choreographed for the show. As she dances in her moonlit bedroom, Jeanie quietly watches, enchanted, and changes her opinion of ballet. On stage, the cousins combine their dance forms and support each other. The text contrasts the country mousecity mouse cousins while delivering an appealing story that celebrates vibrant urban life as well as friendship. Tinted with watercolor washes, Craig's precise, detailed ink drawings bring the characters to life in settings such as the Empire Cheddar Building and the interior of a theater during a Broadway mousical. A charming change of scene for this little English ballerina.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2015
Angelina travels to the Big Cheese, a city clearly styled after New York, to dance with her cousin in the Big Cheese Dance Show. Once she and her cousin resolve their competition--which is better, tap or ballet?--they perform a special duet. Like the other books about Angelina, this one will satisfy her young fans with its customary feminine details.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)