Dream Big! Brontorina by James Howe

Brontorina had a dream.

"I WANT TO DANCE! IN MY HEART, I AM A BALLERINA!"

It's no surprise that Madame Lucille, owner and operator, and her ballet-slipper-shod little students are astounded, standing on the stairs of Madame Lucille's Dance Academy and gaping at the would-be pupil presenting herself as a potential danseuse. After all, Brontorina is a big orange brontosaurus, and moreover, as one little pupil points out...

"SHE DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT SHOES!"

Clara and Jack insist that she be given a chance. Madame Lucille is a noted dance instructor, but she's never taught a dinosaur. Nonetheless, with the boys and girls in the class keeping a safe distance, at the next lesson she welcomes the eager Brontorina inside her studio, politely asking her large pupil not to squash the others. Madame Lucille orders her somewhat appalled pianist to play for the lesson and leads the troup through their warmup moves:

"PLIE!"

Brontorina's plie is perfect! But her RELEVE', while done with elegant form, forces her head through the ceiling. Her ARABESQUE is daintily done, but her JETE' rips a long rift through the roof!

"WHAT A GRACEFUL DANCER YOU ARE, MY DEAR! BUT I AM AFRAID YOU ARE TO0 BIG!"

But Clara insists that her mother has been making something for Brontorina, and at the next lesson she brings Brontorina a pair of beautiful Size XXXXX ballet slippers. Brontorina is thrilled, but then admits that perhaps she is just too big for Madame Lucille's Dance Academy.

"FIDDLESTICKS!! THE PROBLEM IS NOT THAT YOU ARE TOO BIG!

"THE PROBLEM IS THAT MY STUDIO IS TOO SMALL."

And soon the class is back in session with a new location (a pasture) and a new sign--

MADAME LUCILLE'S OUTDOOR DANCE STUDIO~~BOYS, GIRLS, DINOSAURS!

And soon all the young danseurs and danseuses are ready to execute a grand tours jete, in the famed children's author, James Howe's, Brontorina (Candlewick Press). James Howe, the prolific master of droll children's stories with the appropriately whimsical illustrations of artist Randy Cecil, which encourage young readers to think "big''-- and outside the box!

"Text and illustrations work beautifully together in this witty fantasy. . . ." says Booklist in a starred review.