Review Detail

Rita the bear dreams of being a ballerina and is taking ballet classes with Monsieur le Fox with her best friend, Wanda. Monsieur le Fox announces that he’s having auditions for the prima ballerina, and Rita really wants that part. Unfortunately, Rita has noticed that she doesn’t look like all the other ballerinas in magazines or even like the others in her class. How is she supposed to be the prima ballerina when she looks so different?

What I Liked: This book uses animals to discuss the important topic of body positivity and representation, especially in the ballerina world. Rita points out that there are no bears in ballet, and we witness how this discourages her and how she feels about learning this information. This is a good time to discuss with children representation and the importance of seeing ourselves in various spaces. Rita also ultimately recognizes the importance of herself being the representation, which is an important point to talk about with children; sometimes they might be the only one who looks like them in the room, and that isn’t a bad thing.

The illustrations throughout this book are soft and do a great job of immersing you in the story as we go through different scenes with Rita and her dance class. It's nice to see a different setting for the dance studio, and having it be outdoors makes sense for the group that is in the course. It was also satisfying to see a diverse cast of animals in this dance studio, and to see both prey and predator working together without any problems.

Final Verdict: The Bear Who Wanted to Dance is a heartwarming story about embracing who you are and the importance of representation. Children ages 3 and up will enjoy reading this book about animals who are practicing ballet while also learning the importance of staying true to yourself and how hard work pays off. Adults will enjoy reading this with children and look forward to the discussions that arise from the messages in this story.