Random House Children’s Books together with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) just announced a multi-year, multi-book publishing program to launch in fall 2020. The program will debut with the publication of two picture books written by John Robert Allman. B Is for Ballet and Boys Dance! was to coincide with the opening of the American Ballet Theatre’s 80th-anniversary fall season, had it not been canceled due to COVID-19.
Mallory Loehr, Senior Vice President and Publishing Director, Random House Books for Young Readers Group, said “We celebrate and support ABT’s dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and those tenets will be reflected in the stories we publish for young readers, with guidance and support from the team at ABT. It is our hope to educate children and foster a love of dance through the powerful medium of storytelling.”
B Is For Ballet is an alphabetical celebration of the world of ballet and its dancers, dances, choreographers, positions, terminology, and history. Boys Dance! is a picture book about boys who take ballet lessons and the dance heroes who inspire them.
American Ballet Theatre Executive Director Kara Medoff Barnett said, “As American Ballet Theatre celebrates eight triumphant decades and looks to the future, we are thrilled to introduce eight children’s books to inspire the next generation of artists and audiences. With Random House Children’s Books, we will tell unexpected stories that reveal the adventure and the humanity behind the scenes as dancers pursue their dreams.”
B Is for Ballet and Boys Dance! are both available on Amazon.
—Jennifer Swartvagher
All photos courtesy of Random House
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