Angelina at the Palace

My preschooler adores the Angelina Ballerina series of books and "Angelina at the Palace" is one of her favorites. In this installment, Angelina and cousin Henry accompany Ms Lilly, her ballet instructor to the palace where they are to oversee a dance recital for the King and Queen of Mouseland. Angelina is so nervous that she commits a faux pas at the dinner table, and is resolved to return home out of fear of embarassing Ms Lilly. When Ms Lilly falls ill, it is left to Angelina to overcome her lack of confidence, muster her courage and take charge of the recital, training the three young princesses for their roles together with the aid of young cousin Henry. Part of the charm of this series is the endearing character of Angelina as a young mouse with lofty ambitions of being a prima ballerina. The other mouse characters are also charming such as precocious young cousin Henry, Angelina's best friend Alice etc. The illustrations are beautiful, vibrant and possess an old-world charm that keeps the stories fresh and fun for young readers. I'd highly recommend this series to young readers, preschoolers and up.

Thanks to the playful imagination of Katharine Holabird and endearingly quaint illustrations by Helen Craig a small mouse named Angelina has won the hearts of youngsters. Angelina, as many know is a small white mouse with a sweet disposition, a taste for adventure, and a high-spirited brown mouse cousin, Henry. In this, the author's 13th Angelina story, Angelina is thrilled by Miss Lily's invitation to go to the Royal Palace of Mouseland and teach the princesses a special dance in honor of Queen Seraphina and Kind Ferdinand's wedding anniversary. Henry, to Angelina's dismay, is allowed to accompany them. The palace is awesome, the guard's handsome. However, after an embarrassing faux pas at dinner, Angelina decides she isn't good enough to be there and determines to tell Miss Lily she must go home. However, fate steps in via a dreadful cold. When Miss Lily becomes ill it is up to Angelina to teach the princesses a dance. Much to Angelina's surprise the princesses turn out to be rather bad tempered, fighting over who will get to be the magic fairy. Youngsters will be pleased with Angelina's solution to this problem, and perhaps learn a thing or two about pouring oil on troubled waters. Delightful story for ages three and up. - Gail Cooke