Farrah McDoogle

Olivia the Ballerina

Farrah McDoogle

In my opinion, this is an amazing, charming book. I liked it for three reasons. First of all, the language in the book is clear and is full of higher levels of vocabulary that may challenge the reader to learn new words. To demonstrate this, the text says, “Olivia and the other ballerina in her class were lined up at the ballet barre, carefully practicing their pliés. It was time for Miss Melanie to recite the motto of the famous prima ballerina.” Since the language of the text is easy to comprehend, the reader can select the difficult, unfamiliar words in the text and learn the meaning. This will help a growing child expand his or her knowledge of potential hobbies and vocabulary. Second, the plot is well-organized and is easy to follow. The book begins with Olivia deciding to “eat, sleep, and dream ballet." It continues with Olivia daydreaming about ballet and missing school assignments but ends with Olivia realizing “there was a way to still be a prima ballerina even if she didn’t think about ballet all of the time.” The sequential order of events allows the reader to understand and identify the plot on a deeper level. Third, the book pushes the reader to stop and reflect on what he or she values and prioritizes. When Olivia was gone practicing ballet for hours and came home later, her mother told her, “But while you were gone, Francine called. I’m afraid you missed your play date!” This sentence makes one question whether or not they have time for family and friends. The overall message of the story is to find the balance between friends, family, school, hobbies, and life. It is wonderful to be passionate about something but also more important to enjoy the little things and learn time management.… (mais)

These books, while not written by the [a:Ian Falconer|27861|Ian Falconer|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1197074556p2/27861.jpg] himself, seem to be a spin off from the TV series, again based on the original [b:Olivia|770051|Olivia|Ian Falconer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178203805s/770051.jpg|2484218]. While I don't have the comparison with the original (we're not there yet), these books have really delightful full page pictures and the quality of the book, paper, binding is remarkable. My son enjoyed it.

… (mais)