DOGS DON’T DO BALLET by Anna Kemp (Picture Book)

A Book Review by Violet

(with a little help from Bigfoot)

Today Violet is going to do her first book review. It’s for a picture book she borrowed from the library. She renewed it because she wanted to read it a few more times before returning it. The book is DOGS DON’T DO BALLET by Anna Kemp, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Simon & Schuster, 2010).

Violet doesn’t believe she can do a book review, so I’m going to help her out.

BIGFOOT: Are you ready, Violet?

VIOLET: No.

BIGFOOT: What’s wrong?

VIOLET: I don’t know how. Maybe you should do it.

BIGFOOT: I can’t. You haven’t put that book down long enough for me to read it. It’s easy. First tell me the name of the book.

VIOLET: DOGS DON’T DO BALLET.

BIGFOOT: Who’s the book about?

VIOLET: Biff.

BIGFOOT: Is Biff a dog?

VIOLET: Yes.

BIGFOOT: Are there any people in the book?

VIOLET: Yes.

BIGFOOT: Who are they?

VIOLET: A girl.

BIGFOOT: Anybody else?

VIOLET: The girl’s dad.

BIGFOOT: Anybody else?

VIOLET: The girl's ballet teacher.

BIGFOOT: And what does Biff do?

VIOLET: Stuff.

BIGFOOT: What kind of stuff?

VIOLET: Ballet.

BIGFOOT: The people must like it when he dances. Do they?

VIOLET: No.

BIGFOOT: Why not?

VIOLET: They don’t think he can.

BIGFOOT: Why?

VIOLET: He’s a dog.

BIGFOOT: That must make him sad.

VIOLET: It does! Because he loves ballet. And the little girl knows he loves ballet. And she wants Biff to go with her to ballet class but her dad says that “dogs don’t do ballet”—just like the name of the book—and Biff gets sad and the girl gets sad because Biff is sad. And I was sad because they were sad. But Biff sneaks and goes to the girl’s ballet class anyway. But when the ballet teacher sees him she says “dogs don’t do ballet” and makes him leave. So Biff gets sad and the girl gets sad because Biff is sad. And he won’t eat his Doggy Donuts which means he’s really, really sad. And I was so sad. Then the girl and her dad go to a ballet show. And Biff sneaks along and then the lead ballerina falls and the show has to stop because the ballerina can’t dance. But then Biff saves the show by doing ballet. And there’s a funny page with Biff dancing and it’s really funny because he’s wearing a pink tutu and he’s a boy so it’s funny because tutus are for girls. But then he is happy because everybody likes his dancing and nobody tells him he can’t do ballet any more. And I was happy because everybody is happy at the end of the book. And another thing, I don’t think they should have told him he couldn’t dance because that was wrong and they were wrong and they hurt his feelings and then he showed them they were wrong anyway. So they should have let him take ballet lessons at the beginning of the book. Then everybody would have been happy all the time. I love this book. And I like to look at the drawings. The ruffles on Biff’s tutu are pretty. And I like the blues and pinks and oranges in the drawings. And the pages are big. I like that. And there are some funny drawings when Biff is sneaking to go to the ballet class and to go to the ballet show. And then there is a sad drawing when Biff is crying because he is sad because the ballet teacher said he couldn’t do ballet. And I like that drawing because the girl is holding him to make him feel better. And then he hides under a seat on a bus and that’s funny because the girl can’t see him and he is smiling because she can’t see him. And she hugs him at the end while people throw roses because he danced good.

BIGFOOT: Is that all?

VIOLET: I think so.

BIGFOOT: Who do you think will like this book?

VIOLET: Everybody. If you like dogs or ballet or colors or funny drawings of a boy dog in a pink tutu or books with a happy ending or books where a ballerina falls off the stage into a tuba, you will like this book.

BIGFOOT: Guess what, Violet?

VIOLET: What?

BIGFOOT: You can do a book review.