Ivy + Bean doomed to dance

Friends Ivy and Bean are opposites, but in this installment of the series, they agree on one thing. They want to take ballet lessons. Their parents, having been through their enthusiasms before, insist the girls must not quit and must not complain. This is easier said than done when, after the girls realize ballet is not all spins and tutus, they are cast as friendly squid in the underwater-themed recital. Another pleasing adventure, engagingly illustrated and fun for new readers.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist

Gr 2-3-Second-graders Ivy and Bean return to their mischievous ways as they beg their parents for ballet lessons. They get what they want, but class isn't exactly what they expected. Instead of the "kicking" and sword they saw in a picture of the ballet Giselle, they are disappointed to be learning positions, plies, and how to be butterflies. When they are cast as squids in their first recital, they come up with several ideas for how to get out of performing without breaking their promise not to drop out of class. The story is solidly written, and the expressive black-and-white illustrations, some full page, add to the humor. Early chapter-book readers will appreciate and relate to the friends' dilemma.-Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Perusing The Royal Book of Ballet, Ivy and Bean admire Giselle's attitude in a picture in which she appears to have kicked a bad guy in the head with her pointed toe ("Wow...she showed him"). The friends beg for ballet lessons, promising their moms not to quit or complain -- and almost immediately regret their haste. Bean is bored ("Where was the leaping? Where was the kicking?"), and Ivy keeps falling over and getting hurt. But the final humiliation arrives when they're assigned the roles of squids in the "Wedding Beneath the Sea" performance and decide they have no choice but to run away ("What a great idea! Bean had been waiting for years to run away"). Their destination? Appropriately, the aquarium, where they'll slip away during their class field trip, hide, and at night collect money from the fountain to buy food (Ivy: "I read about it in a book"). In this sixth entry in the series, Barrows continues to provide early chapter book readers with a laugh a minute in a story loaded with comic situations of which illustrator Blackall takes full advantage. (Best picture here? Ivy attempting their initial recital-escape plan -- sprained arms -- only to become wedged, taco-style, in the caved-in roof of a plastic playhouse.) Ivy and Bean may not enjoy their adventures in ballet, but readers certainly will. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Friends Ivy and Bean are opposites, but in this installment of the series, they agree on one thing. They want to take ballet lessons. Their parents, having been through their enthusiasms before, insist the girls must not quit and must not complain. This is easier said than done when, after the girls realize ballet is not all spins and tutus, they are cast as friendly squid in the underwater-themed recital. Another pleasing adventure, engagingly illustrated and fun for new readers. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

Gr 2–3—Second-graders Ivy and Bean return to their mischievous ways as they beg their parents for ballet lessons. They get what they want, but class isn't exactly what they expected. Instead of the "kicking" and sword they saw in a picture of the ballet Giselle, they are disappointed to be learning positions, plis, and how to be butterflies. When they are cast as squids in their first recital, they come up with several ideas for how to get out of performing without breaking their promise not to drop out of class. The story is solidly written, and the expressive black-and-white illustrations, some full page, add to the humor. Early chapter-book readers will appreciate and relate to the friends' dilemma.—Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma, OH