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    Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!, by Bob Shea | Book Review

    Kelley SmithBy Kelley Smith3 Mins Read Ages 0-3 Ages 4-8 Animal Books Best Kids Stories Early Readers Social Emotional
    Ballet Cat Dance Dance Underpants by Bob Shea Book Review
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    The Children’s Book Review | May 20, 2016

    Ballet Cat- Dance! Dance! Underpants!Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!

    Written and Illustrated by Bob Shea

    Age Range: 2-6

    Hardcover: 56 pages

    Publisher: Disney Hyperion (2016)

    ISBN: 978-1-4847-1379-2

    What to expect: Ballet, Friendship, Cats, Bears, Secrets, Empowerment, Communication, Bravery

    Ballet Cat returns in Bob Shea’s story of friendship and empowerment.

    In this second installment of the Ballet Cat series, we see a more patient Ballet Cat whose enthusiasm for dance is as adorably obvious as ever. Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! introduces a new character named Butter Bear. Ballet Cat’s seize-the-day attitude contrasts sharply with Butter Bear’s reluctance to do “super high leaps”. At first, Butter Bear seems merely cautious (“a leaping bear could hurt her head on a fancy light like that”). However, after a series of increasingly absurd excuses and requests, it becomes apparent that Butter Bear is avoiding leaps for a reason more complicated than fear of injury. To her credit, Ballet Cat remains patient and accommodating with Butter Bear, but even she has her breaking point. She confronts Butter Bear about her refusal to leap; Butter Bear admits that she cannot leap because she is worried that her friends will laugh at her underpants. Ballet Cat, with her trademark, can-do spirit, convinces Butter Bear that “if you dance with all your heart, the only thing they will see is the beauty of ballet. They will forget all about your underpants.” Butter Bear takes the leap (pun intended) and realizes Ballet Cat was right; the joy of dance transcends all.

    Every element that makes a great children’s book great can be found in Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!. The text is simple (and contained entirely within word balloons), but the words are chosen carefully to effectively convey maximum feeling and humor. The illustrations are bold, unfussy, and perfectly reflect the emotions in the story, from fear to reluctance to frustration to sheer glee.

    All children should read Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! so they can learn its valuable lesson: if you don’t worry about what others think and if you do everything in life with all your heart, then you will experience pure happiness.

    Available Here: 

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    About Bob Shea

    Bob Shea is the author of the first book about Ballet Cat: THE TOTALLY SECRET SECRET, the Dinosaur vs. series, and several other picture books, including DON’T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD and UNICORN THINKS HE’S PRETTY GREAT. He and his wife have their own design studio in Madison, Connecticut.

    Learn More

    Learn more at the Official Site

    Visit the author at BobShea.com

    Follow Disney Books on Twitter and Instagram

    #BalletCat

    Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!, written and illustrated by Bob Shea, was reviewed by Kelley Smith. Discover more books like Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Ballet, Bear Books, Bob Shea, Bravery, Cats, Dance, Friendship, and Self-empowerment.

    What to Read Next:

    1. Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret, by Bob Shea | Book Review
    2. Flora and the Flamingo By Molly Idle — Book Trailer
    3. Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea | Book Review
    4. We Found a Hat, by Jon Klassen | Book Review

    *Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links that share some commission. Rest assured that these will not affect the cost of any products and services promoted here. Our team always provides their authentic opinion in all content published on this site.

    Ballet Bear Books Bob Shea Books with Secrets Bravery Cats Dance Friendship Self-empowerment
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    Kelley Smith
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    Kelley Smith is a former high school science teacher and a current stay-at-home mom. She fell in love with books many decades ago, after reading her first chapter book (Ramona the Pest) with no adult assistance. Kelley loves reading to her two children and sometimes, her three pets listen, too.

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