Any Noel Streatfeild fans here?

I also love White Boots. Such a lovely story and the characters are great- realistic with flaws and all

Gussie, that's it!
Yes, I have some sympathy with the aunt, the uncle and even the dance teacher in that one.

@Kilopascal that's the one. I think they came from Turkey originally? I recall the book begins with an earthquake and how before the quake the birds fled. I liked that one too @RaeHitsEbSire thanks for mentioning it and reminding me.

That's the one - Gussie. Reading as an adult I feel more sympathy for the uncle who is painted as a villain - having three children dumped on him at a moment's notice!

Loved Ballet Shoes and The Painted Garden… but Oh! The illustrations! That adorable one with the Fossil sisters making their pact. 😍

I must be getting old, but it seems children’s books nowadays have totally forgettable illustrations. Or they’re all realistic and grim and caricatures.

Is that the one with the casually thieving brother 'because Anna must have shoes'? The one who spurns the cauliflower cheese and says he'll just have some bread and olives, thanks?

Ballet Shoes for Anna is another good one. It was published just after decimalisation and it amuses me that the characters refer to 'New Pence' which was how the government referred to 'new money' during the period when Streatfeild must have been writing it - but of course this didn't catch on, as the public almost immediately started using 'p' instead.

Oh my gosh. I forgot all about When The Siren Wailed. I love her books. Love love love them. I think Ballet Shoes & Apple Bough are my faves.

They were well exercised, with dance classes, then the afternoon walk, then more dance.

I loved Ballet Shoes too, and I've read a lot of her adult novels - most are available on kindle quite cheaply, including The Whicharts.
**

Has anyone else heard her Desert Island Discs from 1976? It’s a bit of a hoot - here

Thank you for this thread. Growing up I loved Ballet Shoes, the Growing Summer and White Boots. I do believe they have a comforting power as others have said. I am delighted to discover that there are books by Noel Streatfield that I haven’t read so I off to investigate.

I have her book The Children of Primrose Lane. Set in WW2.

I still feel sorry for Winifred, who was more talented than Pauline but just didn’t “look right”, and who ended up working at the Academy when Pauline was a Hollywood star.

A very clear 'life isn't fair' message that you probably wouldn't find in a modern children's book. I was gutted that Winifred missed the audition for Mustardseed, one of the few roles where her looks would have fitted. A very relatable character for a child like me not blessed in the looks department - no matter how hard you work, the pretty blondes get all the prizes in life.

Yes, I still re-read them when I’m unwell! I honestly think her books have some kind of healing powers, I end up feeling so much better when I’ve read a few chapters of White Boots.

Omg, I've read every book mentioned!!!

Plus wintle's wonders

Love her

Thank you for this thread.

I loved them all but is v exciting to find other people who read the Gemma books. Mine fell apart from re-reading but had pictures of a self conscious real girl on the cover - I can remember it so vividly - wish I still had them. They felt like lesser literature compared with ballet shoes etc but I adored them. And Thursday's child was so good

I often think of them when I’m around the V&A!

The growing summer is probably my favourite though. I didn’t know she’d written so many.

Another one here. I would really love to read The Whicharts.

I especially loved Ballet Shoes, The Growing Summer, The Circus is Coming, White Boots, Thursday’s Child and Curtain Up when I was a child.

I remember being delighted to meet the Fossil sisters again in Curtain Up and The Painted Garden, though I did think it a bit far-fetched that Petrova would fund a scholarship at Madame Fidolia’s - considering how much she loathed dancing and acting.

I still feel sorry for Winifred, who was more talented than Pauline but just didn’t “look right”, and who ended up working at the Academy when Pauline was a Hollywood star.

I also collect as many of her adult novels as I can get hold of at a reasonable price. Some prices are very unreasonable indeed. Saplings and I Ordered a Table for Six are very good and although Noel Streatfeild apparently despised her Susan Scarlett novels as pot-boilers written to pay the bills they are very competent yarns and have lovely touches. She just couldn’t do a bad job even when she was following a formula.

I do wish the publishers hadn’t decided to rename as many titles as possible with “shoes” to link them with Ballet Shoes. Very irritating when you’re recommending them.

I loved all her books - esp White Boots and the Gemma books. I read Saplings more recently which is for adults and very sad. The central female role is very far from a strong character in this one, and all the family come to grief as the war takes its toll.

But White Boots I could probably quote wholesale if needed.

That painting is lovely!

loved white boots too. The books stayed with me.

and petrova (?) becoming a pilot!

recall the books had an odd mix of far fetched events with gritty realism and things like rivalry, the economics of work on the stage and the strict rules on figure skating.

That was how I read it - that Lalla was going to be a skating personality, quite probably better known than Harriet the figure skater - bearing in mind that figure skating is quite dull to watch unless you understand it.

But isn’t it more that Lalla”s plans just have to change from Olympic glory to show dancing? So she will be successful but in a slightly different way?
imay be misremembering.
what age & what book would you start a child with?

I loved White Boots. Felt so sorry for Lalla realising she wasn't going to be anywhere near as good as Harriet, when her parents had such high hopes of stardom for her.

Aw that's lovely! I have been training as a tutor and was doing SATS papers, my student and I were both pleasantly surprised that 'A Traveller in Time' (Alison Uttley) had been a set text in recent years.