BALLERINO NATE

After attending a student ballet performance with his kindergarten class, Nate decides he wants to become a ballet dancer. Despite negative pressure from his brother, Nate persists in his dream until his parents arrange for lessons. When Nate is the only boy in the class, and his brother continues his teasing, Nate’s mother takes him to a real ballet in a huge theater, where Nate sees that men can be dancers, too. Though the idea of a boy wanting to study ballet is not a new one, the sensitive, humorous treatment and the gentle and understanding parents bring a fresh slant to the story. Alley’s appealing illustrations in watercolor with pen and ink use all sorts of dogs as the characters (little tails poke out from under their tutus), and he creates quite a believable and likable persona for little Nate, with expressions that effectively convey all his emotions. Terrific well beyond the ballet lesson. (Picture book. 3-6)