Shh! The Furry Princess has a secret!

…she’s a ballet dancer!

Author Vicki Crain has created a spunky, but clumsy, little tiger named Sasha who’s a princess in her kingdom, the youngest baby of the king and queen. On this colourful kids’s image e book, illustrated by Christopher Scott Bell, the dominion the place Sasha lives is populated with lovable animals who love to bop.

From the e book’s web site:
Princess Sasha – the youngest in a royal household of tigers – goes to be introduced to the dominion. As she prepares to publicly obtain her tiara, her insecurities come out. She’s shy, awkward, and clumsy (she has actually massive toes!). Her greatest buddy, Cami, convinces her to take ballet courses the place she finds self-confidence, makes new associates and learns to imagine in herself.

Readers of 4dancers.org may recall an interview with Vicki Crain which touches on her previous expertise as a dancer and the genesis of this image e book. However the different fascinating nugget of backstory is the Kickstarter undertaking that funded The Furry Princess. By forgoing the normal course of, which may take years from submission to publication, Vicki Crain and Christopher Scott Bell had been in a position to see their creation in their very own arms in a far shorter time period. They had been additionally in a position to gauge readers’ curiosity by going on to them by way of the Kickstarter program. It didn’t take lengthy for them to be funded and to get their e book – the primary in a deliberate sequence – off the bottom.

Very similar to Sasha the tiger herself!

Sasha’s clumsiness stems from her massive toes (assume: big kitten with floppy paws) which make her journey on her skirt. She’s terrified she shall be embarrassed in entrance of your entire kingdom when she is given her princess tiara. Her buddy Cami, a crane, suggests Sasha attend her ballet courses the place she is going to study to be swish. However a princess in ballet class is just too conspicuous so Sasha takes courses in secret. Nobody however Cami is aware of she’s royalty.

With out the stress of being a princess, Sasha can mess up and fall down. She will be able to strive issues with out worry of being stared at or judged. In fact, it additionally means she will be teased and made enjoyable of for doing those self same issues. In an audition for The Nutcracker on the ballet college, she journeys over a bunch of fussy flamingos and runs out, humiliated.

Thankfully, she runs straight into the dressing room of the college’s prima ballerina, Juliette, who simply occurs to be a tiger too! The attractive and proficient principal ballerina confesses that she additionally has massive toes however simply look how swish she is. She offers younger Sasha a pep speak and urges her to strive once more.

This time Sasha soars! When she will get a solo position – and a congratulatory nod from Juliette – the opposite dancers are shocked. After Sasha tells her mom about her worry of being on-stage, the queen offers her the tiara to put on underneath her costume. She believes in herself and throws herself into her position. Everybody, together with her older brothers, is impressed by her dancing and shocked when she’s revealed to be a princess.

The intense illustrations of the animals dancing are each eye-catching and correct. This e book isn’t meant to be an educational information so we don’t anticipate the dancing to be excellent but it surely’s good to see pointed toes and arms in right poses. I really like that within the “studying” scenes, our characters are proven turned-in or with bent knees, in distinction to the skilled Cami who’s proven with correct turnout and so forth.

Except for the theme of believing in your self, this charming e book additionally serves to remind us — whether or not we’re dancers or the dad and mom and lecturers of dancers — that it’s okay to fail. Sasha just isn’t profitable at all the pieces she does and surprisingly, the world does not finish. In actual fact, she’s given extra alternatives when she’s failed; she will be able to strive many issues till she finds the one which’s proper for her.

The Furry Princess can present younger readers that everybody has a distinct definition of success. Sasha doesn’t take ballet classes with the intention to be a prima ballerina. Whereas she sees the opposite tiger Juliette as a job mannequin, her aim is to be swish sufficient to not journey over her toes. That is Sasha’s imaginative and prescient of success. One other dancer may be part of courses to satisfy new individuals; yet one more may take pleasure in studying new issues. Not everybody desires to be the most effective. Some simply need to be.

As talked about, that is the primary in a deliberate sequence. Readers shall be enchanted to see their animal associates in additional tales — hopefully they’ll contain dance too.

Vicki Crain, Writer

Vicki Crain works within the Advertising division at The Joffrey Ballet. She is a former dancer and trainer and spent a few years as a Chicago-based freelance arts and tradition author specializing in dance. She holds a B.A. in English and is the creator of the weblog Rogue Ballerina.

Christopher Scott Bell, Illustrator

Christopher Scott Bell is a contract illustrator who acquired his B.A. in Illustration from the American Academy of Artwork, Chicago. He has been an artist his total life, however collaborating on The Furry Princess has been the catalyst for Chris to pursue his love of illustration as a profession.

Each the creator and illustrator will be reached by way of the e book’s web site, The Furry Princess. The e book may additionally be bought on the web site.

Leigh Purtill is a ballet teacher and choreographer in Los Angeles the place she lives along with her husband and charming poodle. She acquired her grasp’s diploma in Movie Manufacturing from Boston College and her bachelor’s in Anthropology and Dance from Mount Holyoke Faculty. She is the creator of 4 younger grownup novels from Penguin and HarperCollins. She is the inventive director of the Leigh Purtill Ballet Firm, a nonprofit beginner ballet firm for adults and she or he teaches ballet and jazz to adults each in individual and on-line, Leigh Purtill Ballet. Learn Leigh’s posts.