Ivy and Bean Doomed to Dance

IVY
+
BEAN

BOOK 6

EVERYBODY LOVES IVY + BEAN!

“The deliciousness is in the details.” —
Booklist
, starred review

“Ivy and Bean are irresistible.” —
Kirkus Reviews
, starred review

“This story defies expectations of what an early chapter book can be.” —
School Library Journal

“. . . the series’ strong suits are humor and the spot-on take on relationships.” —
Booklist

“Text and illustrations are as fine a match as Ivy and Bean.” —
The Horn Book

IVY + BEAN

DOOMED TO DANCE

BOOK 2

written by annie barrows + illustrated by sophie blackall

For Esme and Megan, friends from the beginning —A. B.

For the other Ivy, and her brother, Moss —S. B.

Thanks to Dr. George Matsumoto of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for useful information regarding squid.

Text © 2009 by Annie Barrows.
Illustrations © 2009 by Sophie Blackall.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

The illustrations in this book were rendered in Chinese ink.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barrows, Annie.
Ivy and Bean doomed to dance / written by Annie Barrows ; illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
p. cm. — (Ivy and Bean ; bk. 6)
Summary: Second-grade best friends Ivy and Bean beg for ballet lessons, then, when they are cast as squids in their first recital, scheme to find a way out of what seems to be boring, hard, and potentially embarrassing.
eISBN: 978-0-8118-7656-8
[1. Ballet—Fiction. 2. Best friends—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction.] I. Blackall, Sophie, ill. II. Title. III. Title: Ivy and Bean doomed to dance. IV. Title: Doomed to dance.
PZ7.B27576Iwb 2009
[E]—dc22
2009004367

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94107

www.chroniclekids.com

   CONTENTS

BALLET OR BUST

DIP, DIP, CRASH!

BAD NEWS BENEATH THE SEA

SQUIDS IN A FIX

GERMS OF HOPE

TIGHT TENTACLES

BYE-BYE, BALLET

VERY FISHY

OCEAN LIFE GONE BAD

IN HOT WATER

SQUIDARINAS

BALLET OR BUST

It was a book that started all the trouble. “Read, read, read! That’s all grown-ups ever say to me,” said Bean, “but when I finally do read, I get in trouble.” She slumped in her chair. “And then the grown-ups take the book away.”

Ivy nodded. “It’s totally not fair,” she agreed. “And they shouldn’t blame us anyway. It’s all Grandma’s fault.”

Ivy’s grandma had sent her the book. It was called
The Royal Book of the Ballet
. Each chapter told the story of a different ballet, with pictures of fancy girls in feathery tutus and satin toe shoes.

Bean was at Ivy’s house on the day it arrived. They were supposed to be subtracting, but they were tired of that so they ripped open the package and sat down side by side on Ivy’s couch to look at
The Royal Book of the Ballet
.

“I heard that sometimes their toes bleed when they’re dancing,” said Bean. “The blood leaks right through the satin part.”

“That’s gross,” said Ivy, turning the pages. Suddenly she stopped.

“Whoa, Nellie,” murmured Bean, staring.

“Is she kicking his head off?” asked Ivy in a whisper.

“That’s what it looks like,” said Bean. “What’s this one called, anyway?”

Ivy flipped back a few pages. “
Giselle
,” she said, reading quickly. “It’s about a girl named Giselle who, um, dances with this duke guy, but he’s going to marry a princess, not Giselle, so she takes his sword and stabs herself.” Ivy and Bean found the picture of that.

“Ew,” said Bean. “But interesting.”

“Yeah, and then she turns into a ghost with all these other girls. They’re called the Wilis.”

The picture showed a troop of beautiful women dressed in white. They had very long fingernails.

“And then,” Ivy read on, “the duke goes to see Giselle’s grave, and she comes out with the Wilis, and they decide to dance him to death.” Ivy stared at the picture. “To
death
.”

Bean leaned over for a closer look. It was pretty amazing. Giselle’s pointed toe had snapped the duke’s head up so that his chin pointed straight up to the sky. It would fall off in a moment. The Wilis stood in a circle, waving their long fingernails admiringly.

Bean lifted the page, wishing that she could see more of the picture, but there was no more. There never was. “Wow,” she said, shaking her head. “She showed him.”

For a few minutes, Ivy and Bean sat in silence, thinking.