Lupita's Brown Ballet Slippers - Steena Hernandez - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Steena Hernandez

ILLUSTRATOR: Melissa Castillo

GENRE: Children's Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: October 22, 2024

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A lovely OwnVoices picture book addressing a very realistic issue related to inclusivity. Relatable, inspirational, and enjoyable. Much recommended!

Plot Preview:

Young Lupita loves ballet and keep practising her steps. At home, she dances barefoot, but at school, she is forced to wear the pink ballet slippers, which she hates because they stand out so brightly against her skin tone. Her dance teacher is sympathetic to her pupil’s plight, but she can’t do anything as ballet slippers come only in that standard “Ballet Pink” colour.

Lupita decides to try a technique to make her slippers match her complexion, but even that fails. When she discovers on the internet that there is a specialised store that makes ballet shoes in her skin tone, she knows she will do anything to buy those. How do you think Lupita will succeed?

I’m not much aware of ballet except for what I have seen in movies or read in books. So I never questioned why ballet shoes came only in one standard pink colour. I always presumed that they might be something uniform, like tennis balls or gymnastics ribbons. Only after reading this picture book did I learn that the shoes were made to match the skin tone of the ballerinas, who were mostly Caucasian and hence white. We all know systemic racism exists, but sometimes, we don’t even know how ingrained it is, until such books come up to shed light on what we don’t even question.

The story by itself is lovely. But even lovelier is its star performer, Lupita. I adore the way she addresses issues, be it of the colour mismatch or of the financial constraint. Not once is she shown behaving negatively. No tantrums, no crying, no badgering her parents for money (though it does look like they could have afforded the new shoes), no sulking. She approaches adults to address her concerns. She takes the initiative and searches for options online. She gets the money with the good old reliable strategy of hard work and determination, combined with a lot of patience. And she never stops dreaming or striving towards her goal. It’s a worthy lesson for young ones to remember in today’s world of instant gratification. In fact, it is also a great lesson for parents to remember: let your children understand the importance of money and help them to work towards their dreams instead of handing everything to them on a platter.

The author’s note at the end highlights the significance of the right-coloured slippers for non-white ballerinas. This is accompanied by little inspiring notes from three coloured ballerinas, including the amazing Misty Copeland.

The story is written in easy-to-understand text. There are some technical ballet terms in the content, but the meaning of these is mostly guessable from the illustrations.

The artwork is beautiful. The earthen tone matches the feel of the story perfectly. What I especially want to highlight is the realistic depiction of humans in the story. Young girls with rounded thighs and muscular calves instead of stick-like appendages jutting out where legs should be, hair that is actually messy after getting up from bed or after a fun play session, parents who don’t dress like supermodels – awesome! Kudos to the illustrator! Her bio at the end of the book says that she hopes to properly represent people of colour and create relatable art for all cultures. Well, she has certainly succeeded in doing so for this book!

All in all, I appreciate this little picture book for shining awareness on a topic that is either ignored or taken for granted by the majority – the importance of feeling that we belong, and that we matter. Lupita’s behaviour and her lack of self-entitlement makes her an ideal protagonist.

Much recommended. This OwnVoices book will work wonderfully for classroom/library discussions on inclusivity and on questioning what’s considered routine. The language makes it a great option for children aged 4-8.

My thanks to Beaming Books for providing the DRC of “Lupita's Brown Ballet Slippers” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.