Isadora Moon Goes to the Ballet

Harriet Muncaster's Isadora Moon Goes to the Ballet is a sparkly, funny story for 5 year olds about a school trip, a famous ballerina and a toy rabbit who goes missing at exactly the wrong moment.

What happens

Isadora is half vampire and half fairy, and she's ballet mad. Her favourite dancer is Tatiana Tutu. She has the poster, the scrapbook and a black tutu just like hers.

So when her class is off to see Alice in Wonderland, with Tatiana Tutu dancing the White Rabbit, she can hardly sit still. Then Mum and Dad volunteer to help on the trip. Oh dear.

Dad sleeps in the day (he's a vampire, after all). He oversleeps, takes ages over his hair and hates his pink safety vest. Mum makes flowers sprout all over the station platform. Who wants their parents doing that in front of the whole class?

That's the bit a lot of children will recognise. Being a bit embarrassed by your family and loving them to bits at the same time.

Then, just before the curtain goes up, Pink Rabbit has vanished. Isadora goes hunting for him backstage, and what happens next is too good to give away. Let's just say it involves a pocket watch and some very good pirouettes.

Isadora tells it all herself, in a chatty, excitable voice that's lovely to read aloud. It's full of silly little details. Two breakfasts a day. Dad's red juice. A fairy tissue that puffs glitter in your face at exactly the wrong moment.

Under all the sparkle there's a gentle point about kindness. Isadora hears someone crying behind a door and knocks, instead of hurrying past. Her dad sums it up nicely at the end, about being kind in big ways and small.

(This edition is American, so it's Mom rather than Mum and candy rather than sweets. It doesn't get in the way at all.)

What to read next

If they're after more of the Moon family, Isadora Moon Goes to School is the one where her parents decide it's time she started school. Mum says fairy school, Dad says vampire school, and Isadora would rather stay at home with Pink Rabbit.