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Bad News Ballet #5
Blubberina
Because of her plumpness, Gwen is not allowed to go up on pointe and the Bunheads have begun calling her "Blubberina," so the girls mobilize to help Gwen lose that extra weight and get her toe shoes
- GenresFiction
135 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Jahnna N. Malcolm
100 books75 followersJahnna N. Malcolm is the pen name for husband-and-wife team Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner. Together they've written four musicals, two movies, three CD-ROM games, and nearly one hundred books, including the popular series The Jewel Kingdom. They met in the theater and were married on the stage using Marlowe's famous love letter from "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" as their wedding vows.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 19, 2024
I think this book is my least favorite. In 2024, it’s terribly tone deaf, but when I was 9 year old, fat, and lonely, I was relating to Gwen. It still doesn’t make it one I can review highly.
It’s time for toe shoes! This fits with what the internet tells me is normal for toe shoes and en pointe, about 11. The girls are 10-12, and it’s time to go up on those toes and learn to dance there!
But there’s a problem: Gwen’s probably too fat for toe shoes. Courtney Clay and the other mean girls, the Bunheads, call her a Blubberina, and that makes the gang mad. So they go on a mad spree to make sure Gwen can lose enough weight to get her toe shoes!
The scene in this book that stayed with me, was Gwen, in a sea kelp wrap, blind and upset, rolling along a while wall in an apartment. And as an adult, I would have been every bit as furious as Zan’s parents were at what the girls were doing.
There’s a lot of fat shaming in the book, because, well, the authors set this one up to be about Gwen and the fact she’s always eating. Her ballet bag is always stuffed with junk food. Her mom is super slim, so Gwen has to be the opposite, right? And as a fat kid, it was upsetting to me.
They announce out weights during the test to get your toe shoes, so they had to doubly embarrass Gwen, as well as not give her toe shoes right away. I had secondhand embarrassment from this situation.
The solution seems simple though, and is given by a girl who had polio: eat less junk, do more ballet classes, and a little more exercise. And magic if magics, in a week, Gwen has her toe shoes, and the nasty names go away!
I only wish it were that easy.
It’s time for toe shoes! This fits with what the internet tells me is normal for toe shoes and en pointe, about 11. The girls are 10-12, and it’s time to go up on those toes and learn to dance there!
But there’s a problem: Gwen’s probably too fat for toe shoes. Courtney Clay and the other mean girls, the Bunheads, call her a Blubberina, and that makes the gang mad. So they go on a mad spree to make sure Gwen can lose enough weight to get her toe shoes!
The scene in this book that stayed with me, was Gwen, in a sea kelp wrap, blind and upset, rolling along a while wall in an apartment. And as an adult, I would have been every bit as furious as Zan’s parents were at what the girls were doing.
There’s a lot of fat shaming in the book, because, well, the authors set this one up to be about Gwen and the fact she’s always eating. Her ballet bag is always stuffed with junk food. Her mom is super slim, so Gwen has to be the opposite, right? And as a fat kid, it was upsetting to me.
They announce out weights during the test to get your toe shoes, so they had to doubly embarrass Gwen, as well as not give her toe shoes right away. I had secondhand embarrassment from this situation.
The solution seems simple though, and is given by a girl who had polio: eat less junk, do more ballet classes, and a little more exercise. And magic if magics, in a week, Gwen has her toe shoes, and the nasty names go away!
I only wish it were that easy.
February 1, 2024
These girls are really growing on me!
December 8, 2025
A fun read. Loved coming back to this childhood favourite series. This is also published under the name "Lucky Stone".
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews