Star Time! Stella Is a Star! by Bernadette Peters

THIS IS THE STORY OF PRINCESS PIG--

WHO REALLY ISN'T A PRINCESS...OR A PIG.

Stella is a pup who is socially challenged. Even the other little doggies dash when they see her toothy smile, and she assumes that no one will ever be her friend. But Stella is versatile enough to conceive another, perhaps more appealing persona. Clapping a clunky crown over her droopy ears, Stella titles herself Princess Pig and sets out to become a dancer, signing up at Madame Cochon's If Pigs Could Fly School of Dance.

DANCE CLASS IS THE PERFECT PLACE TO FIND FRIENDS. AND, AS EVERYONE KNOWS, PIGS ARE THE BEST DANCERS.

Madame Cochon takes her new pupil in warmly, despite some evident suspicions about both the "princess" and the "pig" part of her identity, and counsels Stella to try hard to prepare for the upcoming recital and "practice, practice, practice." Her fellow students are not so diplomatic:

"ARE YOU REALLY A PIG?" ASKED PETUNIA?

"YOU SMELL JUST LIKE A DOG. YOU LOOK LIKE A DOG WITH A GREAT BIG MOUTH!" SAYS IRIS.

Stella, who has a propensity for tripping everywhere she goes, finds that rehearsing her moves isn't an instant panacea for her clumsiness, but Stella is nothing if not persistent. She plies at dinner, jetes at lunch, and even pirouettes before breakfast, and eventually her hard work pays off. Just before the big performance, Rose, the prima ballerina, is injured, and to the consternation of the other dancers, Madame Cochon gives Stella the nod to solo before the footlights.

As she twirls through a series of spins and pirouettes, Stella loses her heavy crown and, lightened of the load of her secret identity, begins to dance as never before.

SHE IS FINALLY HERSELF--A PIT BULL BALLERINA!

Songstress-author Bernadette Peter's brand-new Stella is a Star breaks no new ground here in her tale of the dogged but game wannabe who, when the show must go on, dances to stardom. But Stella is a lovable, if unlikely, little ballerina that kids will cheer as she gamely saves the show. Illustrator Liz Murphy likewise selects a predictable palette here, the requisite purple, pink, and lavender beloved of little girls, and her supporting characters, however dubious of the newest classmate in the corps de ballet, come across as basically sweet and sincerely bemused at the appearance of Princess Pig among them.

Author of the New York Times' best-selling Broadway Barks: With CD famed chanteuse Peters includes a CD of Princess Pig's theme song along with the book and contributes the royalties from this book as well to her dog rescue and adoption cause.