"More than anything else in the world, Angelina loved to dance."
Angelina Ballerina is a children's series of picture books, written by author Katharine Holabird and illustrated by Helen Craig. The series focuses on the everyday life for Angelina Mousling, an anthropomorphic white mouse that wants to be a ballerina.The first book was published in 1983 (appropriately named Angelina Ballerina) and focuses on Angelina's introduction to ballet dancing. Later books in the series expanded on her friends and family as they live in their Mouseland village, including various celebrations and ballets Angelina performs in.
The books received two separate animated series, titled Angelina Ballerina in 2001 and Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps in 2009. The English National Ballet also did a ballet based on the series.
The series currently has sixty books as of 2019 (which include both the original series and spinoffs from the animated series), and is being republished in new editions as of 2022. New books based on the franchise began publishing in 2020; these books revert to a more classic look for the character with illustrations by Helen Craig, rather than the look seen in the CGI series.
The Angelina Ballerina book series provides examples of the following tropes:
- Animated Adaptation: One in 2001 and a second CGI series in 2009.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The majority of the cast in early books, being mice, almost never wear anything; her father, for example, only wears glasses (and later a vest) while her mother mostly wears an apron in the house and a shawl outside of it (and a bed jacket after having Polly). Angelina initially wears a hairbow and little else outside of dance class. The characters later have more full costumes and clothing but are still barefoot outside of dancing, and even later books have everyone in full outfits, complete with shoes. The earlier the book, the more likely the characters are to be only in one or two articles of clothing.
- Acting Out a Daydream:
- Angelina spends the first book, Angelina Ballerina, dancing about so often in her daydreams that she falls into a neighbor's flower bed and kicks over the cheddar pies her mother's making.
- In Angelina, Star of the Show Angelina, again daydreaming about her potential performance at the Mouseland Dance Festival, doesn't help her grandparents out on the boat they're taking there or change out of her costume to be helpful. She gets tangled up in everything, ignores what she should be paying attention to, refuses to help Grandfather spruce up the paint (even going so far as to dance through it and leave prints he has to clean) and causes multiple problems—all of which get her grandparents very fed up. Only when she ruins her costume falling in oil does she have her realization she hasn't been helpful and is helpful and well-behaved the rest of the way to the festival.
- Aesop Amnesia: Angelina has to be taught again and again to not get lost in daydreaming and dancing, be less jealous of others, and be more understanding and kind to her younger cousin Henry and little sister Polly.
- Amusement Park: Part of Angelina at the Fair. Angelina, upset that she has to bring her younger cousin Henry along with her to the May Day Fair festival grounds, bullies her younger cousin. She drags him everywhere she wants to go without any concern for his discomfort and doesn't listen to what he wants to do. When he leaves her, she thinks he's gone missing in the Haunted House and ends up crying. When she finds him next to the balloon seller—the first thing he wanted to do, which she'd ignored—she finally starts to do things he likes and the day ends well.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: This is how Angelina feels about Polly during Angelina's Halloween, not wanting her to do everything she's doing and follow along (or be part of her Halloween costume plans with Alice). It takes until she misplaces her for Angelina to realize that Polly looks up to her and wants to be like her.
- Art-Shifted Sequel: After the release of the animated shows, several books took on the appearance of the show's art, including the CGI images from Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps. The classic books were later rereleased.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!:
- Angelina is so distracted by her dancing daydreams and desire to be a ballerina in Angelina Ballerina she doesn't clean her room, get to school on time, or pay attention to her surroundings. It's after she gets to attend class that she starts to behave. Sometimes.
- She's so distracted at the thought of being a big sister in Angelina's Baby Sister that it's hard to think about anything else—even dancing for once.
- Bedsheet Ghost: Polly is dressed up as one for Halloween, since Angelina didn't want her to be a firefly like her and Alice. So is Henry, resulting in Angelina mixing him up with Polly and misplacing her sister.
- Big Applesauce: The Big Cheese in Angelina's Big City Ballet, serves as this, complete with a mouse version of the Statue of Liberty and the "Empire Cheddar" building.
- Birthday Episode: Angelina's Birthday. Angelina has a birthday party coming up and, in the time before it, tries to earn the money for a new bike after crashing her old one. It's given to her as a gift by her friends and family.
- Camping Episode: Angelina and Henry,. Angelina and her younger cousin Henry go camping with her Uncle Louie (later confirmed to be Henry's father) and get distracted, needing to be rescued.
- Christmas Episode: The aptly-named Angelina's Christmas, which has Angelina make a holiday surprise for her lonely neighbor, Mr. Bell, the retired postman nearby who lives alone. When Henry tags along—mostly upset he didn't get to see Santa and give him his cookie—Mr. Bell comes down in an old Santa Claus suit, cheering the young boy up as Mr. Bell tells him stories. This convinces the old man to come to Angelina's school in costume as Santa from then on. The book even has holiday appropriate snow and the ballerinas perform as multiple sugarplum fairies from The Nutcracker.
- Civilized Animal: The mice—in their own kingdom, Mouseland—live in houses and big cities, go to shops, drive cars, have boats, hold fairs, and of course dance ballet. However, they show fear of cats, though none are ever seen.
- Cold Snap: Angelina Ice Skates takes place in the winter near New Year's Eve, whereas most books other than the Christmas Episode take place in the nebulous warm spring or summer. The ballet dancers' skills transfer easily to the ice so they're putting on an ice show for the town before midnight.
- Conforming OOC Moment: Played for Drama in Angelina and Alice. When a group of older kids laugh at Angelina for falling when trying to do a handstand, Alice (Angelina's new and best friend) laughs too and then runs off with the older children, leaving Angelina in tears. Alice later partners with Angelina to help her improve her gymnastics skills.
- Country Mouse: One of the conflicts present in Angelina's Big City Ballet. Angelina—who has not been outside of her small town of Chipping Cheddar—goes to visit her cousin Jeanne and Aunt Violet in the Big Cheese to perform in the Big Cheese Dance Show. Her cousin Jeanne is more into tap-dancing and says tap is better than Angelina's made up fairy ballet, which depresses Angelina. It's not until Jeanne sees Angelina dancing in the moonlight to practice that she apologizes for her rudeness and they agree that both styles have merit, combining them for the Big Cheese Dance Show.
- Dainty Little Ballet Dancers: Angelina's first class is described as having nine other little girls who all practice curtsies and pliés, skip and twirl, and run around "like fairies". Most of their ballet performances involve fairies, princesses, or flowers.
- Distant Finale: The first book ends with Angelina growing up to be a famous ballerina, with the final illustration showing her as an adult now called Mademoiselle Angelina who dances onstage to a packed house. The many sequels (and animated series) all continue to focus on her childhood.
- Easter Egg: Aunt Violet's apartment building in the Big Cheese is numbered 1983—the year of the first book's publication.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Angelina gets meanly nicknamed "Angelina Tumbelina" in Angelina and Alice when she fails to do a handstand and falls on her backside.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first book opens with the line "More than anything else in the world, Angelina loved to dance." She is immediately described as dancing everywhere she goes to the distraction of everything else she ought to do.
- Fatal Flaw: Angelina's biggest flaw is jealousy; she gets very jealous at not having starring roles or attention. Her second biggest flaw is being easily distracted by her daydreams of dancing.
- Feigning Healthiness: Angelina comes down sick before the tryouts in Angelina and the Princess. Her mother tells her she shouldn't go in to class ill, but she sneaks out and goes to the tryouts anyways—where she is so dizzy with illness she ends up passing out while trying out and only gets a minor role, to her distress.
- Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: While the earlier books have the characters either half-dressed or only wearing accessories, later books have everyone in full outfits (and initially barefoot, but shoes are later added). The dancers are always fully dressed for most performances either way, including ballet shoes.
- Funny Animal: The word is populated by mice, with no other creatures shown. Cats are mentioned but never seen.
- Haunted House: Sammy dares Angelina and Alice to go into a boarded up "haunted" house on Halloween. Alice stubs her toe and when something bumps into Angelina, they all run outside from fear. And leave Angelina's sister Polly behind.
- Halloween Episode: The book Angelina's Halloween. Angelina and her best friend Alice decide to be dancing fireflies. Angelina, forgetting her lesson about being kind to her younger relatives, ignores her younger sister Polly wanting to be part of their group while thinking she's not old enough and talking her into being a Bedsheet Ghost, annoyed she has to tag along and keeps copying her. She then loses Polly at the Haunted House the children explore and doesn't realize it until the end of the night when the Bedsheet Ghost they've spent the night with after the haunted house is revealed to be Henry and she has to dart back and find her.
- Ill-Fated Flowerbed: Angelina, on the way to school daydreaming about dance, leaps over—and then falls into—her neighbor Mrs. Hodgepodge's pansies and is scolded by her for it.
- Imagine Spot: Angelina frequently gets so caught up in her daydreams of dancing that somebody usually has to fuss at her a couple times to snap her out of it—unless she realizes it herself.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy: Angelina becomes very jealous when, after the birth of her little sister Polly, everyone is paying more attention to the baby than to her.
- Injured Limb Episode: In Angelina and the Princess, fellow dancer Flora sprains her ankle just before the show and cannot dance as the lead in their floral ballet. Angelina, who had gotten a small part during tryouts because she was ill at the time, has paid attention to the role during practice and performs in her place.
- Limited Wardrobe: Angelina wears almost nothing but pink (when she wears anything at all outside of her ribbon) and in later books is nearly always wearing ballet shoes with her outfits.
- Long-Runners: The series has been in print since 1983 and, along with various spinoff books, has published sixty books with republishing of older books starting in 2022. Even if only the classic series is considered, there's seventeen books.
- Merchandise-Driven: The initial books were not as much; the only real merchandise was done with collaboration through American Girl along with new books and selected videos of the first animated series, many years after the first books release. However a collaboration with Target upped the releases.
- New Baby Episode: The book Angelina's Baby Sister. Angelina is initially excited to have a baby sister, but becomes upset when she learns that her mother needs rest and the baby needs attention. Her mother doesn't notice her new ballet prize while taking care of Polly, the doctor is over often, and her visiting grandparents want to see the baby before her new dance. Angelina gets very upset and jealous at everyone paying attention to the new baby and storms off to her room, thinking that no one cares about her anymore. She throws a tantrum and ends up breaking her china doll prize before falling into a crying heap. Her parents and grandparents then reassure her that she is just as loved as before; it's just that the baby needs lots of attention now, like she did once.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Angelina takes on skills outside of dance as the plot of the story requires. In Angelina Ice Skates she knows how ice skate well enough to put on a skate show, She picks up enough tap to perform (in a blend with ballet) with her cousin in Angelina's Big City Ballet, and in Angelina and Alice she learns how to do advanced gymnastics skills—including rhythmic—in only a few days (though it's implied she's at least been studying for some time in gym class).
- Nice Mice: The mice are shown to be civilized and talented and are the protagonists of the stories. Even Angelina's flaws aren't due to her being a mouse, but a young girl.
- No Antagonist: The books focus on slice-of-life issues and there is no overarching antagonist.
- Official Cosplay Gear: Through American Girl; items for kids included versions of her Christmas coat, pajamas, and a set of a ballet leotard and tutu.
- Performance Anxiety: in Angelina on Stage, Henry—playing the part of an elf—gets out on stage and freezes before speaking his one line. Angelina at first thinks it serves him right (as she doesn't have any lines and didn't want him to come along with her anyways), but then feels sorry and speaks up, reminding him of the line enough for him to speak it.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: A very short one in Angelina and Alice. A group of older kids laugh at Angelina for falling when trying to do a handstand—and Alice laughs too and then runs off with the older children, leaving Angelina in tears. This is just long enough for Angelina to have a bad day at school the next day and worry she won't have a partner to help her learn moves for the school's gymnastics performance—but Alice turns right around and partners with her to help her improve her gymnastics skills, and the performance goes fine.
- Pink Means Feminine: Angelina's pink tutu and hair bow; she's the only girl in her ballet class constantly wearing pink. Later books with her fully dressed have her outfits in pink.
- Princess Classic:
- In Angelina and the Princess, Angelina's ballet school is performing ballet for the unnamed Princess of Mouseland, who is of course dressed in sparkles and finery.
- Angelina at the Palace introduces named characters Princesses Sophie, Valentina, and Phoebe, the three younger daughters of the king and queen—however, they're not as perfectly behaved as Angelina expects princesses to be.
- Angelina and the Royal Wedding again stars Princess Sophie, whose previously unseen older sister Eliza is marrying Crown Prince Rattofsky (complete with wearing a Fairytale Wedding Dress). Angelina is invited to be a bridesmaid along with Sophie and her sisters, and her cousin Henry is invited too.
- Protagonist Title: Angelina's name is on the title of all the books, with the first one being Angelina Ballerina.
- Santa Clausmas: The entirety of Angelina's Christmas focuses on the holiday as a time of gifts, companionship, belief in Santa Claus (complete with Mr. Bell dressing up as such)—and because there's dancing, a performance of The Nutcracker.
- Slice of Life: The series follows the day to day life of Angelina and her friends and family.
- Species Surname: Angelina's last name is Mouseling.
- Straight to the Pointe: Even though Angelina—and all the other students—are little girls, they start their first lesson in laced up ballet pointe shoes and always dance on their toes.
- Stock Animal Diet: Angelina, and her friends and family, have a fondness for cheese. In Angelina Ballerina she is so distracted dancing she knocks over a place of her mother's best cheddar cheese pies, and they're one of her favorite foods. In Angelina and Henry one of the foods they bring with them on the walk to camp is cheese crumpets, and they later have cheddarburgers—no meat—for dinner. Even their Big Applesauce city is called "The Big Cheddar."
- Tagalong Kid: Henry, Angelina's younger cousin, is involved in nearly all her adventures after his introduction. He even gets to come to the royal wedding with her, though he initially doesn't have a part in the ceremony; Princess Sophie just says in her note that Henry should come too. Good thing he did, as he rescued Sophie and Angelina.
- Tantrum Throwing: Angelina throws one in Angelina's New Sister when she's upset that everyone is paying attention to the new baby Polly and not her. She storms off to her room, slams the door and—when that doesn't work—throws her toys and crayons all around her room and only stops when she kicks her dresser and knocks a prize she won over, breaking it. She is found by her family, flops down on the bed, and bursts into tears.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Angelina's mother is a knitter and a skilled seamstress. (At one point Angelina is so excited about dance she jumps into her mother's sewing basket.) She makes all the costumes for the ice show in Angelina Ice Skates and helps with her and Alice's firefly costumes for Halloween.
- The Unfavorite: Angelina feels like the unwanted child when Polly debuts in Angelina's Baby Sister because everyone is paying attention to the baby.
- Unnamed Parent: Her parents are only known as Mr. and Mrs. Mouseling; same with her grandparents, who are only known as Grandpa and Grandma.
