Review Detail

ANGELINA BALLERINA 5-MINUTE STORIES is a collection of Angelina Ballerina picture books that each take about 5 minutes to read. It includes 12 stories that lovers of Angelina Ballerina will likely recognize, collected together in a single book with full color illustrations on each page.

What I loved: Angelina Ballerina is a character that young children can relate to, whether they are dancers or not. She navigates her feelings at home, at ballet school, and as problems arise with friends and through mistakes she has made. Young children will love to see this enduring character as she tries her best to every story. For instance, in Angelina Ballerina by the Sea, she has a delightful trip to the beach with her family and best friend, but when they are dancing, she accidentally falls on and destroys the sandcastle which her friend loved so much. Angelina understands her feelings and works to help her friend feel better following this mishap.

The book can be read in sequential order or by bouncing around, and it includes a table of contents for easy finding of specific stories. The book essentially includes the picture books compiled together, and illustrations are generally in the center of each page with white space above and below, except for some illustrations which were originally not full page images and which have been spread out on their selected pages. The illustrations themselves are ones that readers will recognize, bringing Angelina, her family, and her friends to life on each page. The font of the text is large and clear on each page, found generally on the white background, making it easy to read in low lighting settings, such as bedtime.

In timed readings of these stories, I found that most were read aloud in 5 minutes, so it did work out as advertised, to my surprise, but this will, of course, vary with individual reading speed. The selection of Angelina stories works well for inclusion together with many favorites for little ones to enjoy.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, it would have been great to have larger illustrations, though this is the way to include the full images due to page size differences. It also would have been cool to have new Angelina Ballerina stories included, as fans of the book may already own some of these books individually - however, for new readers, this would be an ideal choice!

Final verdict: Great for bedtime, ANGELINA BALLERINA 5-MINUTE STORIES is a delightful compilation of Angelina Ballerina classic stories, pulled together in a lovely format that will work well for toddlers through young elementary school readers.