Find fantastic free resources and discover new books from award-winning authors
Menu
Charlotte Guillain, Author
Helen Shoesmith, Illustrator
Imprint: Welbeck Children's Books
Publication date: September 11, 2025
Category: Dance, ballet (Children's / Teenage)
ISBN: 9781803380988
Imprint: Welbeck Children's Books
Publication date: September 15, 2022
Category: Dance, ballet (Children's / Teenage)
ISBN: 9781913519162
Grab your very own VIP access pass and enter the wonderful world of the ballet theatre.
Have you ever wondered how ballet dancers stay strong and avoid injury? Or how the magical scenes on stage are created by the set department? Step behind the scenes of the ballet theatre with your very own access-all-areas invitation to find out.
Discover how stunning costumes are designed and see the thousands of shoes stored in the shoe room. Watch the dancers put on dramatic makeup, elaborate wigs and headdresses to create their characters. Discover the magic and wonder of performance night as the dancers prepare to dance Swan Lake. As you turn the pages you’ll read the stories of other famous ballets such as The Nutcracker and The Firebird.
With beautifully intricate illustrations, you’ll discover more wonderful details each time you return.
Charlotte says she doesn’t come from anywhere because she moved around a lot when she was growing up. She always wanted to be a writer and worked as a bookseller before training to teach English as a Foreign Language. This took her to the Czech Republic and Ukraine, before she headed to Zanzibar to teach English to student nurses. On her return to the UK, Charlotte moved to Oxford where she started working in publishing before going freelance and writing children’s non-fiction. She now writes picture books and young fiction, both with her husband Adam, and on her own.
Helen has a degree in Graphic Arts from Liverpool John Moores University and a Masters in Illustration for Children from the North East Wales School of Art. Helen lives and works in the North West of England with her partner and two young children and when she’s not drawing she’s planning adventurous family days out and cosy nights in.