Thomas loves ballet and is excited as he heads to class with his friends and teacher Mr. Elliot. There they warm up and practice before choosing their roles and costumes for The Nutcracker. Thomas is ecstatic to find the Sugar Plum Fairy’s gorgeous purple costume covered in shiny sequins. Even though Thomas is nervous on opening night Mr. Elliott reassures him “the magic will come from within” and to “listen and move with the music” empowering him to have an extraordinary performance. Delightful introduction to ballet through positions and jumps enhanced by charming illustrations done in pencil and colored digitally. The book has exceptional vocabulary words such as shimmer, prance, whirl and tingle but does not provide pronunciations for the ballet vocabulary. While not an essential purchase, Ballet Kids would make a good addition to any library. ( )