Summer Reading Day 51: Today’s book/hat is Brontorina by James Howe. This was a book that came up on a lot of bloggers’ lists when I was looking for book recommendations for my Body Positivity display, and I can totally see why. It’s a great story about Brontorina, an apatosaurus who just knows that she was meant to be a dancer, even if she’s not shaped like the other ballerinas.

The underlying message is one of believing in your dreams, but I also loved how the other characters were so willing to support Brontorina. The dance school’s teacher and students are behind Brontorina and her dreams, with the exception of two characters that are so in the background that even their words of doubt are diminished to tiny speech bubbles, and not included in the main narrative. Fortunately, the book ends happily for Brontorina, with a final page that brought a tear to my eye. It’s a great length for a one-year-old, and while the illustrations are a little less engaging for a toddler than some of the books we’ve read (they have a pretty limited color scheme), they are adorable nonetheless. Thumbs up from JJ and I!