Barbie: On Your Toes (Barbie)

Barbie

by Apple Jordan, Karen Wolcott (Illustrator)

Barbie is a swan. She is a doll come to life. When she is dancing, Barbie can be anything! Little girls will leap through this simple Step 1 beginning reader. Ballet is a perfect fit for Barbie fans, and Step into Reading is a perfect fit for Barbie!

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published July 26, 2005

Reviews

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simply, a Barbie book about ballet. Good for little girls who are beginning to read and like ballet. Cute illustrations and easy narrative. Our oldest picked up this book at a book exchange at her elementary school because she likes Barbie and she knew her little sister would really like it.

[Maggee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Barbie's ballet costumes in this book.

[lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that she said, "no matter what I wear I always like to dance." She is like sleeping beauty, swan lake, and she's a bad swan too. She's a bird and a puppet coming to life.

[Lavinia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about two Barbies, and the big Barbie reads about her dancing. At the end the little Barbie spins on her tippy toes and the big Barbie claps.

[Averi Hawley]

A BABY GIRL WAS GOING

[Liberty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book. This book right here. Was one of my favorites when I was a kid. Even before I learned to read I loved to look at the pictures and make up stories about them. It was so nice to be sent a new one. I had my original till high school and I have no idea what I did with it.

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maddie enjoyed picking her favourite of Barbie’s costumes as she read to me.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barbie plays different +characters+ in this one. Usually one sentence per page. Read to me by my 6 year old granddaughter.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barbie: On Your Toes was one of my favorite picture books when I was little — I read it until the pages literally fell out and had to be taped back in. Part of the Barbie: Step into Reading series, this is a level-one reader intended for preschool-aged children, written by Apple Jordan (what a great name!) and illustrated by Karen Wolcott. In the spirit of the Barbie in the Nutcracker film, the book begins with Barbie and Kelly in a ballet studio, with Barbie teaching and encouraging Kelly as she often does in their shared media. Barbie, an accomplished and talented ballerina, entertains her little sister Kelly with stories, photographs, and mementoes from her professional career that she keeps in a special album.

The words in On Your Toes are all super easy for beginning readers, and the illustrations are simple but lovely with a pretty, nearly pastel color palette. The book being ballet-themed makes it even more whimsical — though you can tell Jordan doesn’t come from a ballet background: ballerinas don’t spin; they turn. In the series of photos from Barbie’s album, we see her performing in a variety of famous ballet roles: Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, the Firebird in The Firebird, and Coppélia in Coppélia. Along with some gorgeous ballet costumes that are mostly accurate, Jordan’s moral of the story is that Barbie loves to dance no matter what she wears. On Your Toes is a cute, attractive little book that any pint-sized ballerina will enjoy!