Ballerina Maria Tallchief describes her childhood on an Osage reservation, the development of her love of dance, and her rise to success in that field. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Despite its subtitle, this picture-book biography focuses on the childhood and adolescence of Maria Tallchief, not on her groundbreaking career. The text itself is poetic, almost like a fairy tale in its scene-setting. Tallchief's father, an Osage, "could spot a rattlesnake out of the corner of his eye... and shoot the snake from fifty yards away while still walking." Her mother, of Scots-Irish descent, "was small as a bird, and beautiful. My father loved to give her diamond rings." Oil fields have made the Tallchiefs and the others on their Oklahoma reservation "the wealthiest people on the face of the earth." In metaphorical language, Tallchief and Wells (Mary on Horseback) describe young Betty Marie's twin passions for music and dance, and her mother's role in developing them. The language can be abstract ("The secret of music is that it is something like a house with many rooms"), but the story is gripping. The Tallchiefs move to Los Angeles so Betty Marie and her sister can receive better training--only to discover that everything their Oklahoma teacher has taught them is wrong. Later Betty Marie enrolls in a class given by the sister of Nijinsky ("He was like a god, and so she was the sister of a god"); at 17 she leaves for New York, to join the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, and there the book ends. Her fame is discussed only in Wells's foreword, and comments in the text such as "I became a pioneer for American dance" go unexplained. Kelley's (The Red Heels) softly focused paintings underscore the lyrical tone, enveloping the characters and settings in gauzy, dreamlike light and concentrating, provocatively, on stillness as opposed to movement. Ages 4-9. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 2-4-A picture-book autobiography of the early years of America's first internationally significant ballerina. Through eloquent words, readers are immediately drawn into this first-person narrative. The story opens with Tallchief's birth on an Osage Indian reservation. Her Scots-Irish mother made sure that Maria and her sister received dance and music lessons, and eventually her father persuaded her to choose between piano and dance. The rest is history. The story ends when, at age 17, Maria left home to seek her fame and fortune in New York. As beautiful as the text is, so too are Kelley's pictures. The large illustrations, several covering double-page spreads, are rendered in soft pastels. The text and artwork combine to make a pleasing introduction to a fascinating person. Wells's personal connection to ballet and Tallchief, explained in the introduction, makes this effort all the more stirring. All told, a simple, lovely offering.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 3-5. In picture-book format, Tallchief's story begins with her childhood on an Osage Indian reservation in Oklahoma, where she took her first piano and dance lessons. After moving to Los Angeles, her parents found excellent teachers for the young dancer, who loved expressing the music with her body and worked hard to fulfill her aspiration to dance with the best, the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo. The book ends with 17-year-old Tallchief leaving for New York to follow her dreams. In addition to the people and places remembered from childhood, Tallchief discusses the gift of music, which she and her parents recognized early as a driving force in her life. The joint authorship may cause some readers to wonder whose words are whose, yet the voice of the text speaks with great clarity, dignity, and power, occasionally lit by flashes of imagery and memory. Equally powerful and well crafted are the illustrations in heavily applied pastels. Gary Kelley grasps forms with a cubist's awareness of the solidity of people and objects, then arranges them to make an effective representational picture in two dimensions. Despite the book's large format and many illustrations, the length of the text and sophistication of the artwork indicate an older readership than the usual picture-book audience. A stirring choice for children (and perhaps some adults) who take their ballet seriously. (Reviewed November 1, 1999)0670887560Carolyn Phelan From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.