There is something wonderfully powerful about a children’s book that delivers an important message without ever feeling like it is delivering a lesson.
A Tail of Learning: Kittina Ballerina and the Not-So-PURRfect Pirouettes does exactly that.
Created by Once Upon a Dance and beautifully illustrated by Stella Maris Mongodi, this delightful, interactive story invites young readers to dance, stretch, wobble, laugh, and learn right alongside Kittina Ballerina.
Kittina is a ballet teacher. Every day, young animals scamper into her studio to learn pliés, tendus, passés, and other ballet movements. When one of her students becomes frustrated because she can’t perform a movement correctly, Kittina offers exactly the kind of encouragement we hope every child hears when learning something new: dancing isn’t about being perfect, and even teachers struggled when they first began.
But Kittina has a secret. She is still learning too. When an elegant swan named Bianca arrives looking for help with her pirouettes, Kittina realizes there are things she still doesn’t know how to do. Instead of allowing that realization to end her journey, Kittina makes a courageous decision: the teacher becomes a student again.
That is where A Tail of Learning becomes something much bigger than a story about ballet.
One of the most important things we can teach children is that struggling with something does not mean they are failing. It means they are learning. Yet children sometimes look at the adults in their lives—parents, teachers, coaches, authors, artists—and imagine that grown-ups have somehow reached a magical place where mistakes, uncertainty, and wobbling no longer happen.
Kittina helps children see something different. Teachers are still learning. Parents are still learning. Experts are still learning. We are all still learning. And there is nothing embarrassing about that.
As Kittina begins taking classes at Sterling Ballet, she finds herself surrounded by dancers of every shape and species. Her legs wobble during a relevé balance, and a frog beside her offers simple encouragement: everything is hard the first time. Kittina turns that experience into a wonderful little philosophy for learning:
“Try it, wobble, and smile.”
Later, that idea grows into the joyful motto at the heart of the story:
Try it. Wobble. Smile. Repeat!
That may be one of my favorite messages we have encountered in a children’s book. Because isn’t that how almost everything worth learning actually happens?
We try. We wobble. We smile—or sometimes laugh at ourselves. And then we try again.
Another reason we enjoyed A Tail of Learning so much is that children are not asked to sit quietly and simply listen to the story. The book constantly invites them into the experience. Young readers are encouraged to try ballet positions, balance, stretch, gallop, jump with joy, act out emotions, and even applaud themselves for trying.
These movement prompts transform reading together into something active and playful. A parent and child can read the story one evening and have a completely different experience the next time simply by experimenting with different movements and expressions.
The illustrations add tremendously to that experience. Soft watercolor textures, expressive animal characters, magical touches, and the recurring image of the mysterious ballerina in the mirror create a world that feels gentle, whimsical, and inviting. The art also does a wonderful job of showing that learning can be messy: characters wobble, stumble, stretch, practice, and try again.
Perhaps our favorite moment comes when Kittina’s students discover that their teacher is still taking lessons. Kittina is embarrassed. Her students are impressed.
Young Olive doesn’t think less of her teacher after seeing her struggle. She admires her because she kept trying even when she almost fell over. That is an important insight for adults as well as children. Sometimes we think we need to hide our struggles from the young people in our lives. But there can be enormous value in allowing children to see us learn something difficult, make a mistake, laugh, practice, and improve.
By the end of the story, Kittina looks into the mirror and sees herself as three things at once: a student, a teacher, and a dancer.
We don’t have to stop being students when we become teachers. We don’t have to master everything before we can help someone else. And being imperfect does not make us less capable of making a difference. A Tail of Learning is a joyful celebration of perseverance, humility, movement, mentorship, and the courage to keep learning. It is especially well suited for families with young dancers, but its message reaches far beyond the dance studio.
Every child will eventually encounter something that feels difficult. Every child will wobble. The wonderful message of this book is that the wobble isn’t the end of the story. Sometimes, it’s the beginning of learning.
For its engaging storytelling, beautiful illustrations, creative movement experiences, and its wonderfully affirming message that learners of every age should be proud to try, wobble, smile, and repeat, we are delighted to name A Tail of Learning: Kittina Ballerina and the Not-So-PURRfect Pirouettes a Reading With Your Kids Certified Great Read.
