The Drina Ballet Series

I love buying books online.  I would not have most of what I own if not for online shopping.  But online shopping has its limitations.  I must know exactly what I want in order to find books online.  I cannot just browse randomly and find books that are new to me.  That is, not usually.  In a rare case of the stars aligning, I discovered the existence of the American Adventure series one evening in early 2020 via my eBay feed.  That sort of experience seldom occurs.  I am so grateful for when it does.

Since finding new books to read online is difficult and often impossible, brick-and-mortar bookstores remain important.  Nothing can replace seeing shelves of books in person, holding and examining them, and reading the first few pages to see if the books are of interest.  

In July 2021, I chanced to see two of the Drina Ballerina books in a local bookstore.  Actually, I saw them, reflected on how attractive they were, and then left the books behind.  There was no way I would ever want to read a book about a young dancer.  I've tried reading some of the Wildfire and Sweet Dreams books about dancers and found the books full of extensive detail about dancing that is uninteresting to me.  I wasn't going to make the mistake of buying the books.

The next time I was in the store later that month, the Drina Ballerina books beckoned to me.  I couldn't leave the books behind a second time even though I thought that I could never read them.  The books were so pretty!  I purchased them.

In around October 2021, I decided to try the first book, Ballet for Drina.  The book was really good.  I made it to page 52, then I made myself quit.  I needed all of the books in the set.

I discovered that the first six books in the series were published in the nice hardcover Collins edition in the United Kingdom during the 1970s.  The set was given the name "Collins Ballet Library."  Unfortunately, the rest of the series was not published by Collins.  Those books are, in my opinion, not very attractive books in comparison.  They are fine, but the Collins editions are exquisite.  

The Collins editions are actually reprints of the first six books, since they had previously been issued in hardcover with dust jacket.  I decided that I wanted to get the first six books in the Collins edition, and then I would settle for softcover editions of the remaining titles.

The Drina Ballerina series was written by Mabel Esther Allan under the pseudonym Jean Estoril.  The set consists of the following titles.

 1.  Ballet for Drina, 1957

 2.  Drina's Dancing Year, 1958

 3.  Drina Dances in Exile, 1959

 4.  Drina Dances in Italy, 1959

 5.  Drina Dances Again, 1960

 6.  Drina Dances in New York, 1960

 7.  Drina Dances in Paris, 1962

 8.  Drina Dances in Madeira, 1963

 9.  Drina Dances in Switzerland, 1964

10.  Drina Goes on Tour, 1965

11.  Drina Ballerina, 1991

I decided not to purchase #11.  Online reviews indicate that it doesn't read the same as the other books since it was written decades later.  I did manage to procure all of #1-6 in the Collins edition (with great difficulty!) and the remaining titles in relatively inexpensive softcover books.

I have now read the first book and have barely started on the second book.  The first book is excellent.  The second book begins four days after the first book ends, so the books do need to be read in order. 

I scanned the beginning pages of the first book so that you can sample it.  This is allowed under fair use.

You will have to click on the images in order to read the text.  

I hope that I continue to enjoy the books.  I have have a number of bad experiences with series where I enjoy the first book and then the series goes downhill.  Hopefully that is not the case with these books, especially considering how hard it was to build the set.