Kate Slater‘s first children’s picture book Magpie’s Treasure was published by Andersen Press in November 2010 and her second book, ABC London is now available for pre-order.

Kate has an etsy shop where you can buy her illustrations, stunning brooches, cards and ornaments. Some of my favourite items are these bird brooches:

And this whale print:

You can find Kate’s website here.
You can find Kate’s blog here.
Kate is on Twitter here.
And don’t forget, Kate’s shop is here.

Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake by James Mayhew was published less than a month ago and couldn’t have arrived at a better time for us - Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake turns out to be the perfect book to introduce this amazing ballet to the youngest of children

Ella Bella is a young girl (I imagine her to be 6 or 7) who takes ballet classes in a gorgeous old theatre with the grand but kind Madame Rosa. At this particular class Madame Rosa introduces her students to the music of Swan Lake, telling them some of the key elements of the ballet’s storyline whilst they dance to music created by Madame Rosa’s wind-up musical box (complete with a spinning ballerina). When the class ends Ella Bella is so entranced by the music and the fairytale that she continues in her own reverie, dancing and imagining herself alongside Princess Odette as the story of Swan Lake plays out: when the prince is deceived by Odile, Ella Bella tries to warn him and when Odette flees the palace Ella Bella helps the prince to fine Odette.

Creating an illustration for Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake. Image: James Mayhew

Ella Bella’s daydream ends just as the prince and his princess find each other and live happily ever after; Ella Bella’s mother is waiting for her and, having been utterly transported, this budding ballerina splashes “in the puddles all the way home, just like a baby swan.”

This story worked so well for us: it showed the girls how Swan Lake is not just a tale, but a ballet; it appealed to so many little girls’ idea of heaven – dressing up and being a ballerina, it put Ella Bella (and by extension my own girls listening to the story) at the heart of the action making is seem alive, and it showed how listening to music can sweep you up and take you to new and wonderful worlds. All these facets added up to making this book a great stimulus for imaginative play and really listening to the music.

The book itself is gorgeous – larger than A4, bright pink with the title embossed in silver, it’s a book that would definitely make a lovely present (imagine giving it with a CD of the music, or a tutu – I think the recipient would be so happy!) The illustrations will delight any fan of retro styling – the limited palette and illustrative approach is very reminiscent of 1940s and 50s design, with even one or two nods to the iconic Dandelion clocks design by Sanderson making an appearance.

Ella Bella is lucky to have a whole series of books about her ballet lessons and the music and stories she gets to explore through dance – all of which you can read about on the blog James Mayhew presents Ella Bella Ballerina. I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before we’re reading more of her stories in our home!

If your kids love things pink and girly Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake will definitely be a hit with them. If, however, your children are perhaps a little older and not swayed by diamanté and an abundance of net, then Swan Lake, as retold and illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger is a wonderful book to introduce them to the story of Tchaikovsky’s most famous ballet.

This version of Swan Lake is magically told in classic fairy tale format, opening with those spine tingling words “Once upon a time..” and ending with the prince and princess having a long and happy life together. As Zwerger and Mayhew both note at the back of their books, the ballet traditionally ends with Odette and her prince dying together but being reunited in heaven. Zwerger adds “...one year after Tchaikovsky’s death in 1893, the score and the choreography were drastically changed. Tchaikovsky’s brother, Modest, reworked the libretto. But the biggest change was that the story was now given a tragic ending. In the original Tchaikovsky had let love conquer evil. You can imagine how relieved I was to find this. Since Tchaikovsky himself had wanted a happy ending for Swan Lake I felt free to do the same.”

Although Zwerger’s illustrations allude to the music at the heart of this story, with the inclusion on each double spread of a few bars of music from the ballet, her storytelling is such that the tale stands completely on its own – you might never know that it was inspired by the ballet, for none of the characters are named; there is simply a Swan Queen, a prince and an evil sorcerer.

Zwerger’s illustrations are full of moody hues, an abundance of ethereal slate greys and stony blues creating a melancholic atmosphere more in tune with the darker aspects of the story of Swan Lake, despite her decision to opt for the original, happier ending. Putting aside this slight mismatch, the illustrations have a definite fairy tale quality to them and an aesthetic which will appeal particularly to older children and adults.

Swan Lake: The Magic of the Ballet by Adele Geras, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark provided us with a return to Swan Lake the ballet, rather than Swan Lake, a beautiful fairy story.

If you are looking for a book which very closely follows the story of the most recognised version of Swan Lake, and which provides a good bit of background to ballet in general this is perhaps the pick of the three; reading this version before going to see a performance would provide a pretty solid preparation. All characters are named, and only in this version do the lovers drown together.

I really enjoyed reading this version aloud. The text was beautifully but simply written, with clear authorial voice inviting us listeners to be transported to another world. The opening lines immediately grabbed all out attentions, despite having read several versions of the story already:

Listen. These things happened long ago. There was daylight and darkness. There was Good and Evil.

Whilst the storytelling was lovely in this version, the illustrations were a disappointment. Although most pages have illustrated borders (eg of feathers, musical instruments or flowers), few scenes from the ballet are depicted, and those that there are appear as small cameos amidst text; there is only one full page illustration, so if you’re hoping for a richly illustrated version of Swan Lake this isn’t the book for you.

That said, those illustrations that are included are instantly recognisable as Chichester Clark, so if you like her style you may just be disappointed she didn’t get to showcase her talent a little more.

Because of the great retelling and the paucity of illustrations I can imagine reading this to M whilst waiting for the curtain to rise at a performance – a situation where she would just want to listen, not look at the book because there would be too much else of interest going on. The size of this book means it would also fit handily into a handbag along with some sweets, and perhaps some tissues ready for that day when we do manage to see a performance of Swan Lake for ourselves.

Photo: jamedz

There are several more picture book version of Swan Lake, including one illustrated by Chris van Allsburg that I’d love to see, but I haven’t been able to get hold of them. If you’ve read any of them, please let me know what you thought of them!

Apart from reading these great books we also, of course, got up to various other Swan Lake related activities. Tune in on Monday to see what we got up to!

Disclosure: I received my copy of Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake, gratis from the publisher, Orchard Books and my thanks go to them. This review, however, reflects my own and honest opinion.

In between reading the different versions of The Magic Flute lots of playing involving dressing up ensued where we were either serpents or princesses (if you are unfamiliar with the story of The Magic Flute there is a detailed synopsis here from Glyndebourne Opera ). We also considered trying to make our own flutes – the ones on Vegetableinstruments.com looked like a lot of fun! But eventually, inspired by this post from Silly Eagle Books and this project at enchantedlearning.com, we then set about playing “Papageno” and catching our own birds.


1. I cut out some small bird templates which M and J decorated and added eyes to.

2. M folded coloured paper concertina style, cut it to about 10cm long and then inserted it into a slot I had cut in the birds’ tummies to create wings.

3. M and I made cages for the birds. Each cage required 9 long pipecleaners. First we took 5 pipecleaners and laid them like a star, just over lapping in the centre by a centimetre or two.

4. We folded over the ends of the pipecleaners to attach them to each other, creating a “knot”. We bent up the pipecleaners about 5 cm away from the “knot”.

5. We twisted the loose ends of all 5 pipecleaners together tightly and then gently pulled the pipecleaners to create a bit of a bell shape.

6. We used the remaining pipecleaners to weave around the bell creating a cage.

7. We hung up the birds in their cages with some thread and tied some ribbon on to each cage so we could hang them up – in our crab apple tree. M and J then found their wings from when we played Flyaway Katie and pretended to be Papageno. We all had a great deal of fun!

Here are selection of links to items about The Magic Flute if you want to play or learn some more with your kids:

I can honestly say M and J have loved listening to The Magic Flute, as have I – the music really is gorgeous (I know that is stating the obvious somewhat) and we’ve had great fun with the books. Have you listened to The Magic Flute with your kids? Or read any of these books I reviewed yesterday? I’d love to hear how you go about introducing classical music to your children.

Today I’m linking up with The Madhouse! Lots of crafty goodness going on over there!