Ballerino Nate

This book gave me a few "mommy moments". Our son, Nick, is now a dance major in college. He started out wanting to learn tap dancing at about 4 years of age after watching a friend, so we found a tap and ballet class- never thinking that this would go beyond a session or two. He got through the "being the only boy", and "do I have to wear pink" (and later the "wearing tights") speed bumps successfully. Like Nate in the book, he loved the costumes, loved leaping and spinning, loved moving to the music. For boys in the U.S. who want to dance (especially if they want to do ballet) there are very few popular role models and a lot of grief from their peers. As one professional dancer noted in a recent magazine article, male dancers end up having to be tougher and more focused than many young men, due to the negative image of male dancers held by those around them. A young man in a local ballet production with Nick loaned him a copy of the video about four ABT danseurs Born to Be Wild - The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre and Nick watched it so often that he memorized it! So, as a "danseur's mom" (danseur being the term Nick was told related to male dancers), I support any book that would encourage a young man to follow his dream of dancing. This one is really resonates with me: the pictures are detailed and funny, the dialogue echoed similar conversations around our house, and the ups and downs of Nate's emotions as the book progressed dealt with situations Nick also had to face. I want to buy several and donate them to local libraries for their collections. After I got the book, I read it aloud to Nick's older brother, who teaches elementary school music and band. We both had a good laugh about the page mentioning Little League (both boys played baseball and soccer, as well as playing in the band) and smiled at the pictures. And, by the way, Nick's older brother's name is Ben, and he, too, would like it known that unlike Nate's older brother Ben in the book, he has always supported his younger brother in his desire to dance. This book is a treasure! Thank you, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and R.W. Alley for sharing it with the rest of us!

My boy had been wanting to take ballet. I was looking into signing him up when one of this stoopid pre-school teachers told him that it was just for girls. After that, as much as he continued to spin and dance at home, and continued to love to watch professionals do it, he continued to not want to take a class. This book got him to understand what I had been trying to explain to him: yes, there are many more girls that take ballet, but that boys can do it too if they want to.

This is a great story about the fluidity of gender roles... and about dancing! When little Nate sees a student ballet production for a school field trip, he decides that he wants to become a dancer. His older brother teases him and tells him that boys can't be ballerinas, and that he'll have to wear pink dance shoes and a dress. Even though the teasing makes Nate anxious that "only girls" can dance, he isn't deterred, and with support from both his parents, he follows through and takes classes anyway. If you have a kid who is interested in dancing, particularly a boy, this is a wonderful, with warm writing and a complex emotional palette. Nice artwork, too, with lots going on to talk about while absorbing the message. Recommended! (ReadThatAgain!)

This frolicsome and high spirited story tells of a passion for dance through the eyes of a blossoming ballerina, who just so happens to be a little boy. After seeing a school ballet on the first day of his last week of kindergarten, Nate decides he wants to be a ballerina, but from the onset of his interest, his brother won't stop telling him, "boys don't dance." The ink and water color illustrations of canine characters dance throughout the book as smooth as a ballet itself. Slyly addressing gender stereotypes and the importance of following your dreams, uninhibited Nate ultimately overcomes his fear of being different after his mother takes him to a professional ballet and he meets a male ballet dancer. The dancer explains to Nate that although the word Ballerina is for women, men can dance too, and tells him that he is a Ballerino, leaving the reader with a joyously unrestrained look at dance from a refreshing male perspective.

Finally, a ballet book for boys! My 5 year old has been in ballet for a year and we search for ballet material for boys. He is very proud of what he does and even brought this book to school to share with his class. Great book...encouraging for boys who dare to be "different." More families should encourage their kids to do what they want...not what is expected for hobbies.