Dogs Don't Do Ballet Hardcover – Picture Book, June 15, 2010

This is my 10 month old's favorite book. I read it to her three times a day, so naturally I can recite the whole thng from memory. When I take it out she screams excitedly and crawls quickly to my lap, and other times she brings it to me. Her favorite parts are all the opportunities for me to make sully voices and noises -- barking, howling, a snooty voice for her ballet teacher. My favorite part is the moral (you can like whatever you want!) and the clear-but-not-heavy-handed transgression of gender norms, since the dog is male wearing a tutu. As I am a big supporter of trans rights, this is a seriously important subject to me that I felt was broached in an age appropriate way.

Our daughter's favorite things are dogs and ballet, so I bought this book sight-unseen based on the title. Turns out, it's completely charming. The narrator's dog wants to be a ballerina more than anything, but everyone keeps reminding him that "dogs don't do ballet." Of course he succeeds in the end, in a nice little lesson about following your dreams. Our girl was 3 when we first started reading it, but I'd say the target audience is a few years older. (Funny thing about reading it young was that she picked up a few big words from the story. Endlessly hilarious to hear a 3-year-old yell "Disaster! Calamity!" when something falls down...) Great one to read out loud if you like to do character voices. Cute pictures too. Just a totally 5-star book.

Love this book. We only had it in Dutch, so with the book report due we were so happt to find this one. Affordable and they shipped so quickly. Loved the note and the appreciation. The book itself arrived in perfect shape, and it is so cute to read. I attached a picture of the pumpkin we had to make with the book report.

This book ships from England. It takes a little longer. Great story.

My three year old daughter likes this book- not her favorite but very cute. The book flows very well. We are very into ballet at our house!

My 2.5 year old daughter absolutely loves this book and so do we! It's a cute book about a dog who thinks he's a ballet dancer. The illustrations are great, too.

Fun book! Bought this as a gift for my 3 year old niece, she loved it.

Granddaughter loved it!

My 4yo that just started ballet totally adores this book. Lovely pictures and cute story

「犬にはダンスなんか踊れない！」大人たちからの痛烈な否定にもかかわらず、やっちまったワンコがいとおしい。デフォルメが心地よい、透明感にあふれたイラストと、なかなか皮肉な文体の組み合わせがいい感じです。簡単な英文なので中学生くらいの人だったら十分理解可能だと思います。幼い少女とその愛犬。この著者は「家族の中の孤独」「周囲の無理解によるさびしさ」をテーマにした本が多いですが本作も最後の大逆転に至る経過がさみしくて、いたくて、つらいのがたまりません。ワンコは最後まで信じてくれる飼い主がいて幸せでしたね。そして雄々しく運命に立ち向かう愛犬と暮らしているこの少女も最後は思いが報われてすばらしいハッピーエンドになりました。（プリマドンナにとっては最高に悲劇的な舞台だったと思いますが）

Cute story

A fun story that challenges stereotypes about who can ‘do’ ballet.Biff, a courageous and mischievous dog desperately wants to be a ballerina. However, this is not permitted because ‘he’ is a ‘dog’.A fun story about courage, perseverance and following interests, despite what others think and speak. Also, a nice story about friendship and having someone believe in you.I had high hopes for stereotypes being challenged in this book as it was recommended by The National Union of Teachers in 2014 as part of their ‘Breaking the Mould’ National Union Teacher project about ‘challenging gender stereotypes through reading’. However, unfortunately I was left disappointed with regards to challenging stereotypes but delighted with the story.Although, the story challenges ballerina stereotypes about who can do ballet, the father is portrayed and illustrated in a disengaged, old-fashioned manner, with his head in a newspaper and giving commands. Miss Polly, the ballet teacher is also portrayed in a stereotypical manner with excessive poise and being very slim. I found this disappointing and although this book is mildly useful for discussing stereotypes about who can do ballet, for me the story was more useful about friendship and having someone believe in you. I appreciate at the time, in 2010 that this book would have been considered a progressive book about stereotypes but not today. Lost 2 stars for not challenging stereotypes throughout.My 3-year-old grandchild and I enjoyed the mischievous character of the dog.

I bought this book based on Mumsnet comments recommending stories with female leads for girls. Despite the fact that the focus of the story is actually a male dog and you never find out the girl narrator's name it's a lovely story that promotes inclusion and acceptance. The illustrations are lovely too.