Ballet Shoes

by Noel Streatfield
Read: Eons ago, December 2008
Rating: Sweet

You may know of Ballet Shoes because the BBC has turned it into a movie with Emma Watson (aka Hermione). Like Harry Potter, that movie is based on a book. Unlike Potter, Ballet Shoes is OLD. It dates back to the 1930s. My copy is from 1958.

This is one of those books that lots of little girls have loved. I don’t remember how old I was when I first read this, treasures from our public library, but I liked it enough to read the rest in the series–Ms. Streatfield has several books, all in the ‘Skating Shoes’, ‘Theater Shoes’ vein.

Then again, one reason I went looking for the others is because the ending isn’t very satisfying.

Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil were collected, like fossils, by Great Uncle Matthew (GUM) on his travels around the world. He came across three separate infants in need of homes, and so he adopted them, handing them to his great-niece Sylvia to care for. All was well until GUM went on a trip and never came back. Sylvia, in 1930s London, has few options to earn them enough money to live on. She rents out rooms in their vast house to boarders, and sends the girls to a performing arts school so that they can learn skills to earn their own way. Pauline has a talent for acting, Posy takes to dancing like a duck to water, but Petrova battles, as she has no particular talents and is much more interested in mechanical things.

The book sticks close to the girls and does a good job portraying how young children often feel when the household is having financial issues. Pauline and Petrova, the elder two, feel the burden on their own shoulders when they become old enough to earn money for performing.

The momentum is sustained for about 4/5 of the book. You worry along with them about the money. Pauline shockingly decides to stop saving any of her money so that it can help the house. Things seem to be coming to a head… then it all sort of peters out into ‘isn’t that lovely?’ There’s no big moment, no real climax.

Perhaps most remarkable, to me, is that the book’s style isn’t fussy or prim. It strikes a good balance between classic childrens’ writing, and being straight-forward and accessible for a modern audience. I had no trouble reading it again, and would be happy to pass it on to someone else.