Picture book breathes life into ballerina’s life, dance and career
Picture-book biographies have grown as a genre in recent years, running the gamut of subjects.
There have been books on inventors such as Alfred Nobel (The Man Behind the Peace Prize, by Kathy-Jo Wargin, illustrated by Zachary Pullen), poets like William Carlos Williams (A River of Words, by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet), painters (When Emily Carr Met Woo, by Monica Kulling, illustrated by Dean Griffiths), athletes (Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman, by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by David Diaz) and political activists such as Eleanor Roosevelt (Eleanor, Quiet No More, by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Gary Kelley).
Dancers, too. Most recently, that includes Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova in a book illustrated by Canada’s Julie Morstad.
Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova, by Laurel Snyder, is perfectly suited to Morstad’s delicate, detailed style of artwork. From the cover, with its young girl in a pale pink frock striking a ballet pose against a dark backdrop, a pearlescent swan’s wing extending from behind her left arm, Morstad does a masterful job with the feathery, poetic text, which is more feelings than facts.
Snyder provides biographical details in a two-page author’s note at the end of the book. In the illustrated earlier pages, she breathes life into Pavlova’s discovery of music and dance as a child, tracing her career to adulthood and eventual death, all the while presenting her as “a bird in flight, / a whim of wind and water. / Quiet feathers in a big loud world.” She tells the reader (and listener) about the dancer’s determination to bring her art form to the masses, travelling the world and performing in often difficult conditions.
In her author’s note, Snyder forgoes the poetic for the informative, explaining how Pavlova first auditioned for the Imperial Ballet School when she was eight, but was rejected. Even when she was finally accepted at the age of 10, she faced numerous problems because her body “was far from ideal for ballet.” Still, she persisted and eventually gained worldwide fame, especially for her lead role in The Dying Swan. Budding ballet dancers are bound to be inspired by her story, and one hopes that those too young to read this book for themselves will have someone willing to read not just the regular text aloud, but also the author’s note.
Still, it is Morstad’s illustrations that truly let Pavlova soar. From the opening endpapers, where we see young Anna gazing out a window at a snowy city scene, the room strung with drying laundry, to the closing endpapers where a single laundry line holds three frothy ballet tutus, Morstad’s art encompasses both the fruits of the dancer’s labour and that of her mother. An impoverished washerwoman, Pavlova’s mother nevertheless manages to take Anna to her first ballet, where the girl’s feet “wake up! / Her skin prickles. / There is a song, suddenly, inside her.”
Any parent who has introduced a child to live theatre, or a special concert, or a first ballet will understand what the author and illustrator are depicting here. And any parent (or grandparent) who has not yet had this pleasure might give some thought, during the coming holiday season, to treating a youngster — if not to an actual performance, then at least to this book, sharing the experience and possibly lighting a spark.
Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova
By Laurel Snyder Illustrated by Julie Morstad Chronicle Books, 48 pages, $24.99 Age seven and older