Ella Bella Ballerina and the Sleeping Beauty
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
Ella Bella longs to be a beautiful ballerina, and so each week she goes to Madame Rosa's ballet class at the old theatre. As we all know, theatres are magical places where anything can happen, and sure enough, as soon as Ella Bella opens Madame Rosa's magical musical box on the empty stage, she's whisked off in a beautiful lilac light to Sleeping Beauty's palace. But will she be able to help the Lilac Fairy save Sleeping Beauty from the bad fairy's wicked spell?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ballet and fairy tales, a sure-fire combination for romantically minded young readers, receive the friendliest of treatments in this handsome, oversize volume. Ella Bella is captivated when Madame Rosa instructs the class ("my darlings") to "imagine you are fairies" and plays the music from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet. Intrigued, Ella stays after class, opens Madame Rosa's music box and, "just like magic," the music starts and she dances herself into the fairy tale. The Lilac Fairy guides her through the various dramas and happy ending. Mayhew's (Katie Meets the Impressionists) light touch keeps the story from being overblown or fussy: when Ella sees the spindle being proffered to Princess Aurora, she "remembered the bad fairy's spell. 'Don't touch it!' she called. But Aurora did not hear." The breezy, dynamic lines of his illustrations, as well as the subdued colors, make the magical turn of events seem entirely natural. While Mayhew offers no surprises, his easygoing delivery is bound to engage anyone whose imagination is inspired by music, dancing, princes and princesses. Ages 4 8.
