Ballerina dreams a true story

Lauren Thompson loved ballet class when she was a child, although she never got the chance to participate in a ballet recital. In creating Ballerina Dreams , she drew inspiration from her own memories as well as from conversations with the girls, their parents, and their teacher, Joann Ferrara. Ms. Thompson worked as a children's book editor for eighteen years before becoming a full-time writer. Her many picture books include Polar Bear Night , which was a New York Times bestseller, and the Mouse's First and Little Quack series, and most recently, The Apple Pie That Papa Baked . She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and son.

James Estrin is a senior staff photographer for the New York Times and was part of a New York Times Pulitzer prize-winning team. His work has appeared in dozens of books, including A Nation Challenged , Portraits of Grief , The Century in Times Square , and Jews in America , and in thousands of newspapers and magazines throughout the world. He lives in Scarsdale, New York, with his wife, the writer Randy Banner, and their two children, Elizabeth and Marshall.