Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina

by Maria Tallchief, Rosemary Wells, Gary Kelley (Illustrator)

Overview

Growing up on the Osage Indian reservation, Maria Tallchief was a gifted pianist and dancer. According to Osage tradition, women are not permitted to dance, but Maria's parents recognized her gifts and allowed her to break the rule. Then when Maria reached the age of twelve, her father told her it was time to choose between her two loves. Maria chose ballet. It was a decision that would change not only the course of her life, but the face of classical ballet in America. The fascinating story of Maria Tallchief's rise to become America's prima ballerina will captivate young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142300183
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/28/2010
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.11(d)
Lexile:	750L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Maria Tallchief was America's first major prima ballerina and also the first Native American prima ballerina. She was born in Oklahoma in 1925. When the choreographer George Balanchine founded what would become the New York City Ballet in 1946, Tallchief became the company's first star. She was vaulted to international fame in 1949 for her performance in The Firebird. Her role as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker turned that ballet into America's favorite. After retiring from dance in 1966 she was active in promoting ballet in Chicago. Besides being a patron of the arts, she was also a champion of Native American culture and remained closely tied to her Osage history until her death. In 1996 she received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievements. Maria Tallchief died in 2013.

Rosemary Wells is the author of 120 books for children, including more than 40 about the beloved bunnies Max and Ruby. She travels all over the country as a tireless advocate for literacy. Wells was born in New Jersey to a playwright father and ballet dancer mother who encouraged her artistic bent. She worked as an art director and designer before illustrating her first book. She is the mother of two grown daughters, Victoria and Marguerite, and grandmother to four girls.

Gary Kelley received his degree in art from the University of Northern Iowa. He began his career as a graphic designer and art director before becoming an illustrator in the mid-1970s. He has received awards from the New York Society of Illustrators, the National Booksellers Association, Print Magazine, the New York Art Directors Show, the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators, the Bologna Book Fair (Italy), and others. His clients include The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Atlantic Monthly, Time, Newsweek, GQ, Franklin Library, CBS Records, the NFL, the Santa Fe Opera, and many others.In addition to his professional work, he has lectured at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, the Society of Illustrators, the San Francisco Academy of Art, Ringling School of Art, and Syracuse University, to name just a few.

Editorial Reviews

"Tallchief's single-minded passion, conveyed in a clear, poetic narrative, will hold appeal and meaning for an audience beyond that of hopeful ballerinas."—The Horn Book

"Kelley's 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."—Publisher's Weekly

" Large, rather impressionistic illustrations evoke period and place as well as Maria's love for her art."—Children's Literature

"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."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

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.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This volume, relayed in what PW called "metaphorical language," follows Tallchief through her adolescence, on the way to joining the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. PW wrote, "Kelly's softly focused paintings underscore the lyrical tone, enveloping the characters and settings in gauzy, dreamlike light." Ages 5-9. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Beginning with her Osage Indian father and Scots-Irish mother, this inspiring, picture book biography tells how young Maria Tallchief developed her talent and love for music and dance, learning how "to be strong enough to dance for hours...," and "delicate enough to break the human heart." Told in the first person, from Maria's point of view, we follow her from her childhood in Oklahoma, guided by an amateur teacher, to her teen years in Los Angeles where she decided to devote her life to dance. Large, rather impressionistic illustrations evoke period and place as well as Maria's love for her art. An author's note is included.

Children's Literature - Gisela Jernigan

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.

Library Journal