The Sleeping Beauty: A Journey to the Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre by Nikita Polyansky is a new version of the classic story of Sleeping Beauty, based on the legendary 1890 Kirov Ballet performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Lena Gabrielle, who wants to attend the debut performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890. Informed by her father that this is impossible—the performance is sold out—Lena Gabrielle begins her secret journey through the streets of the historic city, in an effort to get to the Mariinsky to see the ballet. During the course of her travels statues come alive, and she meets an endearing old man (Tchaikovsky), who leads her to the door of the Mariinsky and shows her the stage where the ballet will be performed.
This book was delightful. My younger daughter seemed to enjoy it, although my older daughter loved it and was very interested in it. The illustrations fit the story perfectly, and my daughter (who just started dance this year) loved getting a new ballet book. The story is charming enough, and the illustrations nice enough, that it would also work for adult fans of the ballet. There's so much rich detail on each page that it's fun for me to read over and over to my girls too.
I have the chance to give away one copy of the book to a US reader. To enter, leave a comment by September 12th with your (or your child's) favorite thing about ballet.
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