Superbly written for young girls by prima ballerina Darcey Bussell, the Magic Ballerina stories are ideal for young girls who love ballet, dancing and fairy tales. These were some of the junior first chapter books that Zoe read all the way through herself. Even though they were a bit harder than the others she’d been reading she loved the story lines so much she just didn’t want to stop – it was like magic.
At the end of each book are 2 pages dedicated to ballet positions to get your little ballerina practising her moves – these were a real hit.
There are 4 different series of Darcey Bussell’s Magic Ballerina Books, each about a different young girl who is learning ballet and needs some help inspiring her to become a talented ballerina. Delphie is the first of the ballerinas and she is given a pair of magic red ballet shoes by her teacher. The shoes take her to magical land where she becomes part of a popular ballet or fairy tale and helps to save the day. There’s plenty of good versus evil and learning how to be a better person in each tale. At the end of each series, when the girl has outgrown her shoes she must pass them on to a new ballerina whom she thinks is worthy. Rosa, Jade and Holly all follow.
Delphie and the Magic Ballet shoes is the first book. Zoe didn’t actually read the books in order or even keep to the same series but you could try to if you felt it was important. I read some of these to my younger daughter Maya and she was equally spellbound so I’d also recommend them as stories to ready pre-schoolers and early readers if they are interested in ballet.
More about/purchase Delphie and the Magic Ballet Shoes
More Magic Ballerina Books that we loved…
