View source for Nina The Pretty Ballerina by Anita Pouroulis and Agata Krawczyk

{{infobox2
|title=Nina The Pretty Ballerina
|author=Anita Pouroulis and Agata Krawczyk
|reviewer= Zoe Morris
|genre=For Sharing
|summary= Jules and her dogs are back for another adventure, but it falls a bit short and not just through the lack of ballet
|rating=3
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=32
|publisher=Digital Leaf
|date=November 2015
|isbn= 978-1909428591
|website= http://www.anitapouroulis.com/
|aznuk=1909428590
|aznus=1909428590
|cover=1909428590
}}

Jules and dogs Nina and George like to have fun together. But there are some things dogs don’t get to do, like play in the dressing up box, one of Jules’ favourite activities. That’s all about to change though. But is there a reason you rarely see a dog in a tutu? We’re about to find out.

I picked up this book because I was expecting a ballet story. I had tons of these as a kid, long after I outgrew the reading age of most of them. As a dancer, I liked books about other dancers which I would read while cuddling Teddy in a Tutu, my beautiful bear with the massively appropriate but no massively imaginative name. You can see why I might expect a book with this title to be about dancing, but this one wasn’t. And I was sad. I do wish they’d forgone the Abba reference in favour of a different name as it started off a bit on the wrong foot with me.

Once I got over this, though, I got into the story a little more. There are all sorts of subtle messages in it, like being true to yourself, not having to dress or behave like everyone else, and trying something new. At the ending was funny too. Good old George. There’s lots of description and not much plot, which was surprising as this isn’t the first book featuring these characters, but as it was the first one I’d read it didn’t bother me too much.

I read a lot of books for this age group, and while there was nothing wrong with this one, it wasn’t as magical as some. The dig at her mother’s weight seemed a little out of place in a children’s book. I’m not sure 3 and 4 year olds would care about that. I thought the feather boa / caterpillar issue was slightly odd too. The design is a bit different, with a rough, collage feel to it that you’ll like or loathe. It seemed to clash with the text a bit, as if the words and story would appeal to younger children, but you’d need to be a bit older to ‘get’ the pictures. Overall I don’t think this is the sort of book to become obsessed with, and is more the sort they’ll read with you once and then not fuss over again. For that reason I’d suggest borrowing rather than buying it to start with, and if it proves an unlikely hit you can always invest later.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book. The trio pop up in other adventures too, such as [[Jules and Nina Dine Out by Anita Pouroulis|Jules and Nina Dine Out]] and [[Nina Goes Barking Mad! by Anita Pouroulis|Nina Goes Barking Mad!]]

{{amazontext|amazon=1909428590}}
{{amazonUStext|amazon=1909428590}}

{{commenthead}}
[[Category:Anita Pouroulis]]
[[Category:Agata Krawczyk]]