"Every girl remembers her first trip to the ballet: the anticipation beforehand, the orchestra's first notes, the ethereal beauty of the ballerinas. This is a tale of one such girl who was caught up in ballet's mesmerizing spell and became one of the greatest ballerinas of all time.In a story drawn from her memoirs, Anna Pavlova describes her first visit to the ballet to see the "Sleeping Beauty." With simple, childlike language, she captures her love for her mother, the splendor of the ballet, and the moments that changed her life. The words are matched with paintings, pastels, and drawings of the French Impressionist Edgar Degas, to give this story all the magic of a fairytale.
Complete with short biographies of Pavlova and Degas, "I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina" will delight any child with ballerina dreams."
This is the story of Anna Pavlova's inspiration as a young child. Although this is a picture book for young readers, I enjoyed just as much as I would have at a younger age. The description of the theatre is as simple and beautiful as any. I connected with Anna and her passion for the ballet. Also, I thought the mixture of short passages by Anna and mezmoring works by Edgar Degas mixed wonderfully to give the book all the more atmosphere.
I recommend this book to any ballet lover or young reader! I give I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina 5/5 stars.