Shoes books by Noel Streatfeild

Sep 21, 2010 21:15

Noel Streatfeild’s “Shoes” books (many of which were renamed to carry the “Shoes” title) are largely-independent books focusing on children and the performing arts. The leads range in age from around 9-12, and most of the books I’ve read take place over at least a year, with most leads being siblings (biological or adopted) or cousins. The books I’ve read focused primarily on female leads, including when the main leads were of mixed gender, but I don’t know if that holds true of all the books, or if part of why these books remain in print is that youthful interest in the performing arts is considered to be more of a “girly thing.” The most well known of the books is Ballet Shoes (and it was the recent BBC movie based on this that made me seek the books out), and the ones I’ve read are it, Theater Shoes (originally Curtains Up, Dancing Shoes (originally Wintle‘s Wonders), Skating Shoes (originally White Boots, and Party Shoes (originally Party Frock).

The books are in general quite endearing with realistic leads and entertaining stories, but, from a perspective from 2010, are also interesting for a few other reasons. Written between the 30s and 50s, several of these take place during WWII, and offer considerable detail about daily life during rationing, and, meant for children, a more upbeat approach to making do than most stories I’ve encountered (most written after the fact) and are more about making do than suffering. They also offer very intricate detail about the training, rules, regulations, and competitions regarding children and the performing arts in the times, as most of the books have children receiving training in the arts, and considering careers in the arts, though not all maintain that interest through the end. Ballet Shoes, Theater Shoes and Dancing Shoes, all set in different decades, have the leads attending schools for dance and theatre, Skating Shoes has the leads training for professional ice skating, and Party Shoes (the only exception to both the training and, in large part, future careers) has several children putting on a pageant ranging the spectrum of performing art forms. Though not for everyone, I found the attention to detail in the training and rules fascinating, and it also adds a deal of gravity to the plot, changing the interest in the arts from something exciting an glamorous and into something real and potentially realistically lasting for the leads.

Unfortunately, I seem to have read all of the books that are in print in the US, though there are a number that were published that I haven’t read.

ya/mg/kids, genre: classics, a: noel streatfeild, books

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