Clementine Rose and the ballet break in by Jacqueline Harvey
Random House, 2015. ISBN 9781742757575
(Age: Yr 2+) Just in time to delight all her fans is the latest adventure of Clementine Rose, who is
so like the readers she so appeals to. This time, with her ballet
lessons having finally begun, Clementine's dance class has been
invited to perform at the reopening of the village hall. And like so
many young girls, she discovers that ballet is not all about tutus
and dancing elegantly en pointe. In addition to those issues,
there's trouble between Angus and Joshua when Joshua discovers Angus
is involved in the ballet and thinks he is a sissy-pants. An
incident occurs in a soccer game that might put the whole
performance in jeopardy.
Miss 8 Loves this series and disappeared for a couple of hours with
this one in hand, devouring it in one read! Like many girls of her
age she dreams of being a ballerina but she also likes the realism
of the stories too. As one who has been involved in 'boy-sports'
since she was little, she relates to Angus's dilemma although she
was bewildered that these gender divides still exist. This sparked a
lot of discussion and shows that this series has a lot of substance
in the storylines.
If you don't yet have this series in your collection, then its
addition would make you a hero of all those who are just emerging as
independent readers still requiring the supports that early 'chapter
books' offer but who want realistic, relatable characters and a
sound, engrossing storyline. There are some teacher
notes and activities at that suggest a Clementine Rose
literary lunch to me!
Barbara Braxton