Naughty Toes

Book excerpt: Naughty Toes is narrated by a little girl called Trixie. At the start of the story she compares herself to her sister, Belinda, who is, we are told, a ballerina. Trixie, however, is not. And we go on to discover Trixie's anti-ballet tendencies in the dancewear she picks out at the shop, the dismay her unconventional technique elicits from her stern teacher, Madame Mina, the way she does her hair, eats an ice-cream, and the part she is given in the end-of-term show - a rock! But Trixie does have talents, even if they don't quite fit the rules of a ballet class, and it's the class pianist, Mr Tiempo, who can see that Trixie would rather be doing a toe-tap than a twirl. Trixie is full of free-spirited energy and she knows her own mind. At the end of the book, we discover how the contents of a mysterious box - left backstage for Trixie after the end-of-term show - allow her to step out and shine . . . as a tap dancer!