A young Black girl growing up in Harlem in the 1950s has dreams of being a ballet dancer. Her mother has cleaned and sewn costumes at a ballet school since before she was born. When the ballet master sees the girl dancing backstage he arranges for her to join classes in the back of the room. “With every bend, I hope. With every plié, every turn, every grand jeté, I hope ... Could a colored girl like me ever become a prima ballerina?” She gets an answer, and inspiration, when her mother spends half of the money she’s saved to take the girl to the Metropolitan Opera House to see Janet Collins, America’s first Black prima ballerina. Kristy Dempsey’s inspiring story is lyrically told, and set against Floyd Cooper’s richly toned illustrations. (Ages 4–8)

A story of little ballerinas with big dreams.

Little ballerinas have big dreams. Dreams of pirouettes and grande jetes, dreams of attending the best ballet schools and of dancing starring roles on stage. But in Harlem in the 1950s, dreams don’t always come true—they take a lot of work and a lot of hope. And sometimes hope is hard to come by.
 
But the first African-American prima ballerina, Janet Collins, did make her dreams come true. And those dreams inspired ballerinas everywhere, showing them that the color of their skin couldn’t stop them from becoming a star.
 
In a lyrical tale as beautiful as a dance en pointe, Kristy Dempsey and Floyd Cooper tell the story of one little ballerina who was inspired by Janet Collins to make her own dreams come true.