HONK! The Story of a Prima Swanerina
 Pamela Duncan Edwards
 Illustrated by Henry Cole
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 1998 Hyperion Books for Children, NY USA
  ISBN: 0786823844


Mimi the Swan's in love with ballet. When a new production of Swan Lake comes to town, Mimi will do anything to see it but swans aren't allowed in the posh theater. Mimi tries one disguise after another. Will she ever get in?

With a delightful splash Mimi's story begins on a Paris lake among her duck & frog friends, where she practices the positions she caught sight of at the Paris Opera House.

Then she hatches the idea of going into the Opera House along with the audience however, the manager rushes forward chasing her away. "No birds allowed!"

Mimi is one determined swan & she tries & tries. One evening she finds a young ballerina dashing into the stage door & follows her right into the wings. Before anyone can stop her, Mimi is lined up with the other cygnets for their entrance in Swan Lake & on she goes!

Henry Cole's paintings are funny & fanciful & complement Pamela Duncan Edwards' lovely, hilarious story. As the jacket to this book says: Pamela was "dismissed" from her first & only ballet class when she was five because of her flat feet. Henry cried when his mother took him to ballet class because all the little girls were bigger than him.

Together they have collaborated on numerous books including: Four Famished Foxes and Fosdyke; Some Smug Slug; Dinorella:A Prehistoric Fairytale; Warthogs in the Kitchen:A Sloppy Counting Book & Livingston Mouse.
(12/05/99)

Rebecca