So she practiced more than all the other ballerinas in class. Her brothers would tease her about being too tall, and the girls in her ballet class would make fun of her.Īudrey struggled with en pointe – dancing on her toes – but she loved a challenge. This dream, however, was not supported by a lot of people. Before she became an actress, Audrey Hepburn had always wanted to be a ballerina when she was a little girl. Ordinary Yet Steadfast: Audrey and Her Ballerina Dream. I like how this picture book gives readers a glimpse of her life from childhood until her rise to stardom and more. (I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s through Netflix after I read this picture book.) I’ve heard about her but I didn’t have any idea who she really was. I’ve seen her movies at Best Buy but haven’t really watched them. Today’s Nonfiction Monday is hosted by two lovely librarians: Cathy Potter and Louise Capizzo from The Nonfiction Detectives.īefore reading the picture book, I didn’t know anything about Audrey Hepburn’s life. Her story, Just Being Audrey, written by Margaret Cardillo and illustrated by Julia Denos, is also in keeping with Nonfiction Monday and a few reading challenges. I thought she would fit our bimonthly theme, Girl Power and Women’s Wiles, perfectly. I was thrilled to find a picture book biography featuring Hollywood sweetheart, Audrey Hepburn. Weeks before we launched our bimonthly theme, I visited the biography section of Barnes & Noble.

“I never think about myself as an icon… I just do my thing.” Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC).Literary Voyage Around The World Reading Challenge 2018.#WomenReadWomen2019 (A Year Of Women Reading Women) Reading Progress.#ReadIntl2020 (Year Of International Literature) Reading Progress.#DecolonizeBookshelves2022 Reading Progress.#DecolonizeReading2023 Reading Progress.dominate contemporary popular culture should buy this for their favorite girl-ASAP. Any grownup who bemoans the way Katy Perry et al. While most Hollywood starlets were curvy and wore glamorous outfits, Audrey would only be herself.' And the story is packed with fascinating details about Hepburn's upbringing in WWII Europe and foray into acting. Debut author Cardillo's literal, matter-of fact storytelling could have used a little more élan (especially given that her subject once spoke the urbane words of Peter Stone, Billy Wilder, and George Axelrod), but she gets her point across: 'Audrey had become more than an actress she was an inspiration. Denos (Grandma's Gloves) is spot-on in her watercolor portraits of Hepburn at each stage of her life even those readers who haven't seen Sabrina, Roman Holiday, or Charade (at least not yet) will understand instantly how Hepburn's ballerina bearing, gamine chic, and openhearted worldliness made her a one-of-a-kind star and fashion icon. Audrey Hepburn proves as irresistible a character in the pages of a children's book as she is in those soigné roles of the silver screen.

Just Being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo