Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!

Written by Bob Shea

Narrated by Michele Medlin

Ballet Cat is getting her friend Butter Bear ready for her big ballet debut. "Leap, Butter Bear, leap!" Ballet Cat prompts. But Butter Bear would prefer to just point her toe. When Ballet Cat keeps pushing, Butter Bear gets hungry, then thirsty, then sleepy . . . The bottom line is that Butter Bear would rather do almost anything to avoid making a big leap. Why? Because her bottom is covered in silly underpants! This second entry in the Ballet Cat series will have beginning readers rolling on the floor with laughter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781501926709

Bob Shea

Bob Shea has written and illustrated more than a dozen picture books, including Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, and is the author of Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads and Big Plans, both illustrated by Lane Smith. His writing career began at Comedy Central, and his characters and animations have appeared on Nick Jr., Playhouse Disney, and PBS Kids.

Reviews for Ballet Cat

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute book geared to very young readers. Ballet Cat wants Butterbear to do jumps in ballet. Butterbear has lots of excused about why she can not do it. Ballet Cat finally finds out that she does not want anyone to see her underpants. Ballet Cat convinces her to try and that she will be so good, that no one will notice her underpants. Simple text with few words but adorable pictures. This book talking about being self-conscious has a cute message but little ones might not get it, as they do not seem to be very self-conscious to begin with.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

That exuberant ballet-loving feline whose story began in Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret returns in this second amusing early reader, this time trying to convince her friend Butter Bear to take a high leap in their dance routine. Butter Bear has other ideas however, and finds lots of funny ways to stall, from a professed desire to eat cereal (lots of it!) to the need to go (in the woods). When Ballet Cat has finally had enough, and demands to know why Butter Bear won't leap, the desperate bear reveals all: their watching friends are Underpants Peepers, and might laugh at her underwear...As with the first entry in this series (hopefully ongoing), Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! taps into the language and humor of young children, who will be particularly amused by the Underpants Peepers' sing-song chorus demanding underwear. Ballet Cat manages to convince Butter Bear that it is the ballet itself that matters, but this doesn't put an end to the silly fun, as the reader gets a glimpse of our feline heroine's own underpants at the end. The artwork here is fun, with cartoon figures on brightly-colored pages, and text is dialogue bubbles. Recommended to early readers who appreciate silly fun, and to anyone who enjoyed the first Ballet Cat story.

[melodyreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Funny, funny, and a chance to say 'underpants' ...

[senspence · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My son, who loves cats, checked this out of the library. I haven't read the first book in this series yet (this is the second) but it isn't necessary to like this book. I thought it was cute and my son laughed out loud the entire time, even when there wasn't any underwear involved. What I really liked about this was... **SPOILERS**...that 1) you didn't know Butter Bear's secret fear right away, that 2) when you do discover it and Ballet Cat tries to console him, the fear comes true anyway (this is rare for a children's book), and 3) that Butter Bear's fear doesn't really matter after all.