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Reviewed by Tiffany Ferrell for Readers' Favorite
In The Mouse and The Ballerina, Amanda Maynard-Schubert introduces us to a little mouse who wanted nothing more than to be a beautiful ballerina. Making a tutu out of paper she danced around to the beat of her own drum, even if at times she was clumsy. When she rips her homemade tutu by accident, the small mouse is very sad, thinking that she can no longer dance without it. That’s when a beautiful ballerina introduces herself. Mouse tells the ballerina that she could no longer be a dancer because she ripped her tutu. The ballerina tells Mouse that a costume isn’t what makes you a dancer but rather being able to teach your body to move and to search deep down and let yourself feel the music. Mouse took the dancer's advice and soon she was twirling perfectly and letting the music guide her without her usual tripping and falling. She received the best gift from her friends, which was a real tutu because she was now a real dancer.
As someone who grew up loving to dance even though I was far from perfect, I found myself enjoying this children’s tale. Not only do the illustrations tell a charming story, but the tale itself also has a lesson to it. Sometimes in life, you overthink things and make mistakes, but when you just let your heart lead instead of your mind, wonderful things can happen. Just take Mouse when she felt the music within herself instead of overthinking her steps and dance moves. Amanda Maynard-Schubert has done well with The Mouse and The Ballerina. I can’t wait to read more of her work in the future.
