Cape Town - A local author and illustrator have released the first in a series of Ballet Betty Books.
Lisa Templeton and Laura Bosenberg recently published Ballet Betty Lands a Plum Role.
It’s a story about a young dancer, and her little dog Kevin.
Betty is very ambitious and all she wants is to be the fairy on the Christmas tree in the Christmas Ballet.
Instead she is cast as a plum pudding in a pudding suit.
She is mortified but her dance partner, Bertie, doesn’t mind at all because he has worked in theme parks and worn a lot of crazy costumes.
Templeton said not only that, but things go hilariously wrong on opening night when she daydreams in the wings and gets a mighty shove from a stagehand.
“Turns out though, the audience loves her and all is well.
“Ballet Betty Lands a Plum Role is a super-fun book with a Christmas theme.
“It also has a solid moral to the tale.
“So often we hope for something and the way things turn out is in fact better,” she said.
Betty was born out of Bosenberg’s experience as a dancer and now she and Templeton have turned Betty’s adventures into the first of a book series.
“We have lovingly brought her to life in a book.
“I’m so excited for all her adventures to come.
“Laura and I find our work hilarious.
“There have been times when we have met over cappuccino and cake and cried with laughter at our own efforts.
“Laura developed the characters Betty and Kevin when she was dancing based on herself and her little dog Kevin.
“Now Betty and Kevin are dancing into new adventures and we are thrilled that people are loving them as much as we do,” she said.
Ballet Betty Lands a Plum Role is for children between the ages of three to eight but its humour is fun for parents and grandparents.
Templeton said: “Aside from developing vocabulary and instilling a lifelong love of reading, books take children into magical worlds, expose them to unheard of possibilities and fresh ways of reacting to the things life brings.
“Books are truly one of the great pleasures in life and the sooner one gets going on your literary journey, the better.”
The retail price of the book is around R195.
For more details email: [email protected].
Weekend Argus