Favourite Ballet Stories

Favourite Ballet Stories, chosen by Darcey Bussell, is a collection of dance stories for 9 year olds, some funny, some magical and a couple that will make you swallow hard.

What happens

The stories come from lots of different writers, including Jean Ure, Jamila Gavin, Bel Mooney and Geraldine Kaye, and some were written specially for this book. So you get a real mix of voices, which makes it a lovely one to dip in and out of.

It opens with Kitty, who does NOT want to go to ballet. She'd much rather be out in the garden with William from next door playing Crawling Space Creatures. She turns up to her first class all in black when everyone else is in pink, and feels like an ink blot. Who hasn't felt like that?

Then the teacher asks the class for ideas for a free dance. You can probably guess whose idea wins.

Mr George is quite different. Kit keeps hearing music in the night and dreaming of a wood made of crystal. The old man in the flat upstairs has walls covered in photographs of dancers. It's mysterious and a little bit haunting.

In Mega-Nuisance, Rosalind is desperate to get into White Lodge, the Royal Ballet School. Her little brother Paddy, who has Down's syndrome, adores her. She finds him very hard to love (and she's honest about it). There's also a taste of Jean Ure's Hi There, Supermouse, about a girl who's always been told she can't dance while her sister is the star.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Mega-Nuisance includes a car crash and a stay in hospital, and Paddy's heart is described as weak. When Rosalind's dad explains Down's syndrome, he also mentions an old, offensive word people used for it. It's there as a word of its time, but you may want to talk about it. Later in Mr George, the old man is carried out to an ambulance.

None of it is graphic. For a reader who loves dancing and doesn't mind a story that tugs at the heart, there's a lot here. A more sensitive reader might like to start with Kitty.

What to read next

If they love a girl whose feet won't keep still when the music starts, try No Ballet Shoes in Syria next. Aya has just arrived in Britain from Aleppo, and while her family waits for help she can hear a ballet class through the wall. It's a more serious story, so it's one to share.