Books: Ballet Books by Noel Streatfield

[dancelyssa]

My favorite author of theatre fiction is Noel Streatfield. Books I have read by her are:

Ballet Shoes

Theatre Shoes

Movie Shoes (aka The Painted Garden)

Dancing Shoes (aka Wintle's Wonders)

Skating Shoes (aka White Boots)

Party Shoes

The books with two names are simply that they were published under one name in Britain and a different name in the United States.

I believe Streatfield also wrote the following books which I have not read:

Tennis Shoes

Circus Shoes

Family Shoes

Ballet Shoes for Anna

 

Please, I'd like to hear other people's opinions on these books, or otehrs by her. Please post comments, reviews, and reccommendations of other books on another thread.

[minty]

I love Noel Streatfield too : I 've read all of them, including some I think you haven't mentionned :

Apple Bough

A vicarage family (about her childhood)

the serie Gemma (Five books)

Thursday's child

When the siren is wailing (a book about world war two)

Of course, teh caracters are quite recurrent, and their personnalities are not very deep, but it doens't really matter

If you can, get hold of the DVD ballet shoes, it's great and very near the book !

[Tiffany]

I've read ballet shoes, dancing shoes, and theatre shoes. My library doesn't have the rest of them, and I think they are even hard to find on amazon.com. I remember liking them, but its been years since I have read them.

[K8smom]

Great books - my daughter loves the three that she owns (Ballet, Theatre, Dancing), and I think they're wonderful as well. I'll be looking for some of the others.

 

Note about spelling: the author's name is somewhat unusually spelled Streatfeild, in case you're searching.

[dancelyssa]

I agree with all of you. "Ballet Shoes", "Dancing Shoes" and "Theatre Shoes" are really the only ones you will ever find new in an American bookstore. The other books by this author are quite hard to find and usually very pricey if you can find them, upwards of $50!

What I did, because I was interested in Skating Shoes and Movie Shoes (Which uses the Fossils as cameo characters like Theatre Shoes does), was to search under their English names, White Boots and The Painted Garden. I was able to find them for a normal price (around $7 US dollars) on both amazon.co.uk and amazon.co.ca. I bought them from Amazon Canada.

[Skye90]

I love those books; particularly " Ballet shoes", " ballet shoes for Anna" and "Thursday's Child." I thought there was also one called, " Ballet shoes for Laura...." but maybe I was imagining it.

[Hamorah]

I adored Noel Streatfeild as a child and still do! I love rereading my favourites from time to time! My favourites are The Painted Garden, Wintles Wonders and White Boots (aka Movie Shoes Dancing Shoes and Skating shoes in US speak). They are, as someone mentioned, all available on Amazon.co.uk or co.can. The books are for children, so they are very easy reading, but I think she manages to characterise her "heroes" very well and they definitely come over like real people.

[minty]

I think you must be thinkinbg about Ballet shoes for Anna, about a little girl after an earthquake in Turkey ;

There's also another I forgot to mentioned called The Children of Primrose Lane, about WW2;

and of course, it's Streatfield ! I apologize

[Allegrodancer]

I adore "Ballet Shoes", "Dancing Shoes", and "Theater Shoes".

[Her Royall Highness]

"Ballet Shoes" was one of my favorite books as a child. I was thrilled to death when I found "Theatre Shoes" and "Dancing Shoes" in the local library, but I never knew she'd written more than that. Then again, I am in the US, and it was mentioned that it's rare to find any of her others here at all. But... ah, nostalgia. Next time I go home I might pick it up and reread it, for old times' sake.

[Liz Power]

Did anyone else ever read these? There are quite a few of them, and I've always loved them. They were about children at a performing arts school in England (which seemed like such a dream to me when I was eight!) and their trials and triumphs. The first one was called Ballet Shoes, and took place in the thirties; it followed the lives of three young orphans at the fictional Madame Fidolia's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. The second one was Theater Shoes and was basically the same setup; the third one is called Dancing Shoes and was about two sisters—one a gifted ballet dancer who couldn't care less and would rather do high kicks, and the other a non-dancer who is very anxious to see her sister continue with classical ballet.

 

Anyway, these are great books for young dancers and performers in general. Highly recommended!

Edited June 8, 2007 by Liz Power

[Dance_Scholar_London]

Ballet shoes came out recently as an audio book as well

[minty]

i have read all her books, loved them ;

Ballet shoes is out on DVD too !

all the Gemma books are about a girl performer too, and you'll want to find "Ballet shoes for Anna", where a young orphan relocates to England and wants to dance ....

[dance4life56]

My mom used to read these to me, and they were actually part of the reason I wanted to dance!

[deloris]

I will definately have to get these books for my daughter. Thank you for the idea.