Editor’s Note: wOw’s Grande Dame of Dish had a long talk with Whoopi ranging from books to parenting and more … This is part one of their chat. Visit wowOwow.com all this week for the rest of the conversation. And find out what Whoopi thinks is the secret to "The View’s" success, her view on race in America and more … 

LIZ: Whoopi, what propelled you into writing children’s books?

WHOOPI: My daughter. The first book I wrote was called Alice. And it was a take on Alice in Wonderland, and there were no children of color in fairy tales when my daughter was little. So that’s how Alice came about. I thought I’d just write her a fairy tale so that I could say, "Look, there is one — with you in it."

LIZ: So how many have you done?

WHOOPI: I think this is the third children’s book. I have another one in the works called The Berries.

LIZ: What is the point of Sugar Plum Ballerinas? What were you trying to get across in this one?

WHOOPI: Actually a couple of things. That little girls oftentimes are so structured, and that kids don’t have a lot of time to themselves. And sometimes it’s because parents want to live vicariously through their kids, and get them to do all the things they want to do. Then I began to realize what it would be like if I were a parent now – if I had a little kid. Would I try to force my kid to do all the things that I couldn’t do? And I wanted to be a ballerina. But in those days they weren’t really taking women of color into ballet. You could go dance with Alvin Ailey, but you could not be a prima ballerina.

So if I had had a kid who was about seven or eight now, I am afraid I would be forcing her to try to do everything I couldn’t do. A lot of little girls find themselves in that position now. But these girls, the Sugar Plums, are very amazing because they live in a world where they can speed skate. They can be interested in anything. And so now this bunch of girls, who don’t look like the ballerinas that they’re supposed to be emulating — they’re round. They’re tall. They’re skinny. They’re wide. They’re all colors. And so they formed what I called "The New World."

LIZ: Well, this is interesting because this book surprised me. I don’t in any way mean to be rude, but I was just thinking, I thought only sort of white, middle-class, upright, socially aspiring women pushed their children to be ballerinas? Because I thought black mothers were probably too practical for that.

WHOOPI: Yeah, we wanted to be all the things that you see. I wanted to be Dame Margot Fonteyn because I grew up watching her dance with [Rudolf] Nureyev, the Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet. You know, who wouldn’t want to do that? Remembering [Mikhail] Baryshnikov. I would have put on some toe shoes just to jump him.

LIZ: Well, I must say, male ballet dancers are pretty fabulous. And, you know, Nureyev added to Margot Fonteyn’s stature. She was already the greatest, but then once he became her partner, it was a different thing.

WHOOPI: They were magnificent to watch.

LIZ: Back to what I said about thinking black mothers are probably too practical to influence their children toward ballet, I want to ask: What do you think about a career in ballet for a girl?

WHOOPI: I think a career in dance for a girl is magnificent — whether it’s ballet or jazz or tap or any of it. I think if you want to stay healthy in the world, dancing is a profession that keeps you healthy. 

LIZ: You wouldn’t want to raise a hedge-fund person?

WHOOPI: Well, something to fall back on. I’d like them to be able to do both.

LIZ: I guess I think a career in ballet is very short.

WHOOPI: What isn’t short?

LIZ: All right. Now I’ve expressed my reservations. Have you had any actual experience with children in ballet?

WHOOPI: My daughter wanted to dance. And so she was with Debbie Allen for a while.

LIZ: So you have?

WHOOPI: Yeah. She wanted to do that.

LIZ:  I’ve been wondering about this: Are children smarter than they used to be? Are they just exposed to more? Or do they still just grasp everything at the exact time they are supposed to? And you can’t force that.