Book Review: BALLET SHOES by Noel Streatfeild

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*wipes a happy tear away*

Well goodness gracious, no wonder Meg Ryan loved this book in YOU'VE GOT MAIL!

I thought it would be a charming children's story about girls who took ballet lessons.

(You'd think by now I'd have learned not judge a book by its cover.)

The stakes are ever so much higher! The girls are taking ballet lessons, true, but out of necessity. They dance to put food on the table. They dance to earn enough to support their family. In a way... Dance becomes their salvation. And along the way, they learn valuable life lessons, such as:

"It's to do with happiness. It means hard work."

Pauline, Petrova, and Posy are now living, breathing characters for me, in that same special place in my heart along with the March sisters, Sara Crewe, and Anne Shirley!

I highly recommend it to adults as well, it has priceless gems on child rearing.

"It may be that you may find later that dancing is not the career for all of them, but the training will have done them good."

And at its core, the book is a loving tribute to growing up in the theatre... Something the author was intimately familiar with, having been a thespian before turning to writing. It's got so many interesting details about the theatre world in pre World War II London!

This book will appeal to readers of all ages, in any age. Definitely a five out of five! Go get your copy now!



View all my reviews