THE LITTLE BALLERINA AND HER DANCING HORSE

A former world-famous ballerina again collaborates with her husband (co-author of Dancing on My Grave, 1986, and The Shape of Love, 1990) on their first book for children—a story that draws on Kirkland's own experience. Rosie Daniels, 11, has two passions—ballet and riding—which come into conflict when her dance teacher warns that riding may ruin her chances for becoming a serious ballerina, since it develops the wrong muscles for dance. Her horse Sugar's decline as a result of Rosie's curtailment of riding persuades her to quit ballet, until Uncle Max comes up with a solution: an old sidesaddle. Narrating in an intimate first person interspersed with Rosie's amateurish poems to Sugar (whose ``dancing'' is purely figurative), the authors skillfully incorporate numerous ballet and equestrian references. Unfortunately, the characters are one-dimensional, the story cloying, the resolution overly neat. Still, horse and/or dance lovers will enjoy the read. (Fiction. 8-11)