American Ballet Theatre and Random House Children's Books Partner for Launch of BOYS DANCE! and B IS FOR BALLET

Random House Children's Books will be launching an exciting new publishing program in partnership with the renowned American Ballet Theatre later this month. To start, they are publishing two beautiful new picture books; BOYS DANCE! and B IS FOR BALLET (Doubleday Books for Young Readers | On Sale: September 22, 2020 | Ages 3-7).

With input from the company's male dancers, BOYS DANCE! (Doubleday Books for Young Readers | On Sale: September 22, 2020 | Ages 3-7) is a book that shows that ballet is for everyone. Written by the acclaimed author of A Is for Audra: Broadway's Leading Ladies from A to Z, who danced as a child, BOYS DANCE! subtly seeks to address the prejudice against boys and ballet by showing the skill, hard work, strength, and smarts it takes to be a dancer. Fun and buoyant illustrations show boys of a variety of ages and ethnicities, making this the ideal book for any boy who dances. An afterword with photos and interviews with some of ABT's male dancers completes this empowering and joyful picture book celebrating boys who love to dance! Principal dancers like James B. Whiteside are eager to see it published because it underscores the importance of celebrating and normalizing ballet and dance for male children-something that was missing from his own experience growing up as a dancer.

B IS FOR BALLET (Doubleday Books for Young Readers | On sale September 22, 2020 | Ages 3-7) is a beautifully illustrated, rhyming A to Z picture book of ballet vocabulary, stars, dances, positions, creators, history, and more. Published in partnership with AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE, here is a book that fans will adore, from children just starting ballet to adults who avidly follow this graceful art form. Written by the acclaimed author of A Is for Audra: Broadway's Leading Ladies from A to Z, the dazzling, creative wordplay forms a graceful pas de deux with the stylish, swooping lines and rich colors of the sumptuous illustrations, making this a highly giftable book for any dance fan. A glossary of terms, biographies, and dance history completes this beautiful and informational volume.

BOYS DANCE! and B IS FOR BALLET center on the world of dance and artistic expression. BOYS DANCE! in particular empowers children to just be themselves, an important message for children of our generation.