  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 11/01/2011 PreS-Gr 2—Miss Lina and her nine spirited ballerinas are back. This time a boy wants to join the troupe. The girls all relish the thought of doing arabesques, pirouettes, promenades, and other moves with a princelike fellow gracefully supporting, turning, and tipping them. When Tony arrives at the studio, though, he is shy and not sure how he feels about being the only guy. His reaction is to dance extravagantly across the floor and out the door. Miss Lina orders the girls to retrieve him, but they refuse after watching his dramatic display. However, they dance their way to the street and off to the zoo, where they meet Tony once again. Witnessing his dancing prowess as he moves among the animal cages, they decide to give the "non-princely boy" a second chance. With a setting in France and the use of rhyme and rhythm, one can't help but notice the similarities between Miss Lina's determined ballerinas and Ludwig Bemelmans's Madeline. Davenier's pencil and watercolor illustrations display continuous movement and a predominance of pink; each page will make readers smile as they pore over the characters' expressive faces and priceless body language. Terminology and pronunciation are included in the back matter. Miss Lina and her students are sure to become favorites of young balletomanes.—Diane Antezzo, Ridgefield Library, CT - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 10/15/2011 In this sequel to Miss Lina’s Ballerinas (2010), the nine little girls in Miss Lina’s ballet school learn that a boy will be joining their class. Initially delighted by the news and dreaming of dancing pas de deux, they are astonished when shy Tony enters the room and, after a bit of jumping and spinning, leaps out the door and runs away. Warmed with color washes, Davenier’s expressive line drawings illustrate the satisfying rhymed-verse text with spirit. The book concludes with a glossary of ballet terms, complete with pronunciations. An appealing picture book, infused with the joy of dance. - Copyright 2011 Booklist. Loading...
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