Once, in a cozy, sunlit barn, lived a little girl named Maxine who loved to dance more than anything else in the world. She didn't go to a big city dance studio. Her dance floor was the smooth wooden planks of the barn, and her classmates were the friendly farm animals. Maxine practiced every single day. Today, she stretched her arms up high, reaching for the golden sunbeams that peeked through the roof. She spun in a slow, happy circle, her bare feet sweeping across the soft hay. Down she dipped, bending her knees in a gentle plié, before leaping up like a little frog.
Today was a very special day. It was the day of the Great Barnyard Ballet! Maxine wanted to show her animal friends how much she had learned. But there was a big, wiggly problem. Maxine felt a flutter of worry in her tummy—she could not find her special pink ballet slippers! She looked in her wooden cubby. Empty. She looked under her woolen blanket. Nothing. Without her soft pink slippers, she could not slide and glide across the floor. She needed her friends to help her look. She sang her special searching song:
"Tippy-toe, tippy-toe, where did my pink shoes go?"
Maxine padded out of the barn and walked to the cheerful yellow chicken coop. Inside, the hens were clucking soft, happy songs. Henrietta, the plumpest brown hen, ruffled her warm feathers. "Henrietta," Maxine asked, her voice quiet and hopeful. "I lost my ballet slippers for the big show.
