Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Tutu Ballet
Story and Illustrations by Sally O. Lee
Published by Booksurge Publishing
ISBN: 978-1439209165
A special thank you to ijustfinished.com
Embrace the Differences
The Tutu Ballet is a delightful story of Ms. Berry and her four young ballet students who are preparing for their class ballet recital. Ms. Berry’s students are Mirabel the mouse, Fillippo the fox, Belinda the bear, and Harriett the hare. During the classes, Ms. Berry finds that each of her students has his or her own interest in one particular area of the ballet, and is not particularly talented in the other areas. Ms. Berry is able to overcome this dilemma by organizing the recital in such a way that each student is able to use his or her own talent to play a special part, and the play ends in a grand success, much to the parents’ delight.
As you may have guessed, The Tutu Ballet takes place in the forest where the resident animals send their children to Ms. Berry’s class to learn the ballet. Each student is a different type of animal represented in the forest, and each of these characters displays a strength in one area, and weaknesses in others. Ms. Berry is presented with the daunting task of preparing these students for the recital where they should all be performing the same ballet moves and following the same instructions. Unfortunately, Ms. Berry must improvise as not all of her students are able perform all of the same moves. Ms. Berry develops a format where each individual may remain an individual, perform his or her talents, and still emerge with a wonderfully successful ballet recital.
Ms. Lee writes an endearing tale that teaches young children the beauty of keeping an open mind and embracing the differences of others. Allowing others to excel where they do best and combining each individual’s strengths can result in a spectacular result. Not everyone can do everything perfectly, and not everyone must do everything perfectly in order for a project to be a success. Working together and bringing your own talents to the table, no matter how different they are, makes everyone involved a winner. This lesson is simply told, and beautifully illustrated, by Ms. Lee herself.