I Dreamed I Was A Ballerina Read Free Books and Download eBooks
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.
Age Range: 8 - 12 years
Lexile Measure: AD900L (What's this?)
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Atheneum; First Edition edition (October 1, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689846762
ISBN-13: 978-0689846762
Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #510,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #122 in Books > Children's Books > Biographies > Performing Arts #321 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Music & Photography > Performing Arts > Dance
Taken from her 1922 memoirs, Pages Of My Life, dancer Anna Pavlova tells of her first experience at the ballet as a little girl. Her simple and gentle words are full of imagery and passion as she relates the wonder of watching the Sleeping Beauty ballet...the sounds of Tchaikovsky's music, the mesmerizing beauty of the dancers, and the roar of the audience. On that thrilling afternoon her love affair with dance began, and a dream commenced that set the course of her life. Ms Pavlova's lovely text is enhanced by the magic and wonder of Edgar Degas' paintings. His artwork transports the reader back to this long ago performance, and together words and art bring that day to life. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, I Dreamed I Was A Ballerina includes short biographies of both Pavlova and Degas, to complete the story, and is a masterpiece to be treasured by aspiring ballerinas and artists, everywhere.
Yes, this is a beautiful, moving story of a girl's dream come true. I bought it for my 6 year-old grandaughter who loves her ballet lessons. I hope the book will encourage her to pursue her own dreams, whatever they may be. This is an example of a classic in children's literature. It can be read again and again and has life lessons for the young and the old.
I began taking my grandaughter to the ballet when she was 3 years old. By 5, she knew the stories and music to all the classics and began ballet lessons at the Washington Ballet. Now, at 7, during the holiday, she is dancing one of the leading children's roles in Septime Webre's Nutcracker.I bought this book because I wanted to introduce her to the history of this beautiful art. Not only did she love the story, but, additionally, she was facinated by the Degas images and drawings. We ended up spending more time learning about "Impressionism" than Anna Pavlova. She loved the softness of the images and plied me with questions about the way Degas painted.Because of that discussion, I bought her an additional book about "The Little Ballerina" statue that Degas fashioned. That led to my descriptions of The Louvre, the copy of the statue in The Metropolitan Museum and a promise that this summer, for her 8th birthday, I would take her to New York to see Swan Lake danced by the American Ballet Theater and the Metropolitan Museum to see the copy of "The Little Ballerina" statue by Degas.I could never have imagined that this book would be so stimulating. The best part was sharing the story, answering her multiple questions, watching her enthusiasm while I read the story (even though she could have read it herself)and knowing that a child's curiousity was joyously working overtime.
As a lover of both ballet and Degas, I bought this for my book collection even though I am 61. I am glad I did. The story is charming and the illustrations a treasure. The books' condition was very good.
I was interested in Anna Pavlova because he name was mentioned several times in the book Husband's Secrets...it intrigued me so much I looked it up. I found the recipe mentioned in the book and made it !! So I also looked up any information on Anna and found this book. It is a children's book but loved the way presented and will send to my granddaughter who is a prima ballerina!! Rh dessert is easy and tasted delightful!! Try it/
A lovely book. Beautiful illustrations... I would highly recommend it for small girls who have a dream. Even though Ido not fall into this category, I enjoyed the book and it's wonderful illustrations.
This book was perfect for my daughter after her first ballet recital. The art is beautiful and it is well written overall. Being a (somewhat) biography added more credibility to the story. The only trouble we had with the book is that the fairy not invited to Sleeping Beauty's christening is called a "hag" so we had some explaining to do when we read it.
My 3-year-old great niece is really into ballet, and she loves having this book read to her. The story is so well written, I'm sure this book will continue to be one of her favorites for years to come.
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