The Only Boy in Ballet Class

Features

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 32 pages
• Published by: Gibbs Smith, Publisher July 26, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 142360220X
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1423602200
• Book Dimensions: 9.8 x 9.6 x 0.4 inches
• Weighs: 1 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
There's nothing flashy about Wummer's (The Incredible Peepers of Penelope Budd) solid watercolor-and-ink cartooning or debut author Gruska's breezy prose, yet they effectively convey what it's like to be a boy who jetés to a different drummer. Without wearing their empathy on their respective sleeves, the author and illustrator allow readers to understand both Tucker's artistic exhilaration (dancing feels right to him. Like breathing) and his painful ostracism at school. It's too bad, then, that the story is saddled with a credibility-stretching, everybody wins ending: Tucker gets drafted into a pee-wee football game and saves the day with his ballet-instilled agility, thus winning over not only his former persecutors (who promptly sign up for ballet class) but also his loud-mouthed, macho Uncle Frank. That may be a comforting message, if unimaginative (all Tucker has to do is show he's one of us), but it smacks of inauthenticity. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
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Product Review
Mark David Bradshaw, Watermark Books (Mark David Bradshaw Watermark Books )

Reader Reviews
The Only Boy in Ballet Class is a perfectly charming book, wonderfully illustrated by a prolific artist, but it's also an important story for young children about coming to terms with your true self and expressing the passions you really feel, even if others don't quite get it. It's a story about commitment, about perseverance, and about unanticipated rewards. Tucker Dohr loves to dance, and not just any kind of dancing, but the difficult discipline of the Ballet. Being the only boy in a ballet class is very hard, but Tucker needs to dance, even though many of the kids in his neighborhood mock his participation in a "girly" activity. And if that weren't bad enough, Tucker has an uncle, equally rigid and unsupportive, who constantly carps at his dancing and urges him to take up more stereotypical activities for boys. But Tucker looks forward to his ballet classes, and doesn't give up. He has heart, in a heartless world, or perhaps just a world burdened by the many broken-hearted people who've let their own dreams fade away, and then settled for someone else's dream, someone else's life. Tucker is very lucky as well; his Uncle has no real say in his life, other than as a wet blanket and kibbitzer from the sidelines. Tucker's parents support him, and allow Tucker to be himself, to find his own way, and to dream his own dreams. The illustrations beautifully extend the text of the book and make it more compelling, allowing us to see Tucker's sense of joy and fulfillment in dance, both in private moments and during public performance. This book will be attractive to any child interested in the Ballet, and even includes a little glossary of dance terms which describes the various movements Tucker excels at. But it will also be attractive to any children who find themselves inhabiting the unknown territories at the boundaries of life, whether that be the difficult negotiation of gender roles and behavior, as in this book, or those who are fascinated with unpopular subjects -- like lepidoptery, or Etruscan pottery -- because Tucker does just fine. His passion turns out to be valuable in fields outside the dance studio, and he still loves to dance. Comment | | (Report this)