After peering in the window at the Paris Opera House, Mimi the swan is smitten with ballet. She drives the ducks and geese crazy at the local watering hole with her arabesques and pirouettes and big splashy landings. When she glimpses a production of Swan Lake through the same window, she’s thrilled. “They’re all pretending to be me!” she exclaims. She makes several attempts to watch the whole production from inside the opera house, but the manager keeps throwing her out. When she slips in the stage door behind a tardy ballerina, Mimi gets to perform the entire show. She’s such a hit that even the manager asks her back. Edwards’s tongue-in-cheek text pokes gentle fun at self-absorbed prima ballerinas, while Cole’s bold full-bleed paintings add a wealth of humorous detail. Particularly funny are the disapproving expressions on the faces of birds and balletomanes alike, and scenes of Mimi with her short skinny legs, large feathered chest, and haughty demeanor. (Picture book. 4-9)
