Ballet shoes. Noel Streatfeild

[Orangeanddemons]

Wow! It is fantastic isn't it? I'd forgotten how good it was!

Dd got some book vouchers for Christmas. Took her to get some books and found this. I bought it for me, and M reading it again. It wad my best boom ever when I was little, and it's still great now.

This version even has a bow on the cover! Dd hasn't even been able to get near it!

[TheNightIsDark]

I only realised recently Noel is female!

[sallysparrow157]

This thread has made me spend a lot of money on amazon! Still have my childhood copy of ballet shoes and the painted garden, know both pretty much by heart and still re read them at least once every 6 months! The bbc adaption of ballet shoes with Emma Watson playing Pauline is available on DVD now too, I generally hate film adaptions of books I really love but I did really quite like it!

[MadameDefarge]

I also loved Ballet Shoes for Anna...

And I have a particularly fine book called 'The Years of Grace' by NS.

A guide on how to be a respectable gal in the fifties.


She is ever so brave, and tackles personal hygiene, er, head on.

Change knickers twice a week being my favourite tip.

[Cooroo]

These books were such a big part of my childhood, I regret not introducing my DD to them. To rename The Painted Garden seems like sacrilege. I also loved the Gemma books, and the Vicarage Family - so sad! Recently read and enjoyed Saplings.

Thanks someone above for the heads up about the lesbian doctors!

[sallysparrow157]

A lot of the drina books are a few hundred pounds on amazon these days!
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0750002441/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[beatricequimby]

Anyone read The Bell Family? That is my favourite NS. Family in South East London (quite evocative I think). There is a dancery girl and a stoppy but fun girl and two brothers. Really wish someone would reprint it.

Also think A Vicarage Family is fantastic and the end still makes me cry. I read one of the sequels though and was disappointed - I felt her style of writing didn't work so well writing about adults (although I do think Saplings is fab).

[Vijac]

Love it. Got same copy as Madame defarge. Been note to re read it every so often! I love gum too.

[NorthernLebkuchen]

I love White Boots. Santa bought Theatre Shoes for dd2 for Christmas

[ClaireUnderwood]

Thank you for this thread! I recently re read ballet shoes for the eleventy-billionth time when DD was ill and I had to spend hours holding her sleeping in my arms... I loved white boots and curtain up as a child too but haven't heard of lots of the titles mentioned here. Am going to have to check them all out now, I can't wait.

[MadameDefarge]

yes, I didn't know about curtain up or a vicarage family...

think an amazon moment awaits...

[miaowmix]

Love the sound of The Bell Family beatrice, being a SE London girl myself. I loved E Nesbit and her Bastable family for the same reason when I was a child. I am now compelled to read and reread everything NS has ever written.

[beatricequimby]

Claire - another one nobody has mentioned is The Children of Primrose Lane. Set during WW2. I loved it as a child. There is also a sequel to The Bell Family called New Town. Good luck tracking them down.

[miaowmix]

As an aside does anyone else love all the names NS gave her characters? Wolfgang, Harriet, Petrova, Posy etc.
E Nesbit too: the Bastable children were Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and Horace Octavius (H. O.). Awesome!

[beanandspud]

This thread has brought back so many memories. I loved Ballet Dhoes and used to get books on ballet from the local library to try to teach myself the different positions despite having the grace and style of a fairy elephant I also loved White Boots and and the 'Gemma and her sisters' series. Anyone else remember Gemma falling 'in love' with her Romeo? Robin and his 'swirled' music?

[MadameDefarge]

Talking of which, did anyone ever read the Family at One End Street?

I gasp in horror at my memories of it, but loved it as a child.

[curlew]

Please don't be disappointed if your young Dcs don't enjoy reading these books, they are harder than you think. They are perfect read alouds, though!

Don't forget The Circus is Coming........(fortunately never rebranded as Circus Shoes!)

[miaowmix]

Yes bean, 'swirling' was brilliant!
What a nostalgia trip

[poppyknot]

Beatrice, was one of the Bell family called Ginny? Had that stored up us my 'favourite name'. In the end used something not a million miles away as DD1's short name....
Also, used Pevensey Bay as exotic destination in story when I was 10. Fossils went there I think....

[MadameDefarge]

Is that the one where the whole family joined the circus cos the father lost his job? two kids etc?

[poppyknot]

Madamedefarge. I loved those! 11 plus, hats, malt and oil, flower shoes and measles......

[MadameDefarge]

ironing for the rich folk... man made fibres melting..

[ArgumentsatChristmas]

I think I have read everything that Noel Streatfield ever wrote - some of them time and time again. The really disappointing thing for me initially is that my children never really got into any of them. Or E Nesbit as mentioned above. Or in fact Malcolm Saville or Arthur Ransome.

What I had to learn fast was to be led by them. If DS was only ever going to read Horrid books or Top Gear books, I learned to enjoy Jeremy Clarkson. DD is more interested in books and through her I got to read Eve Ibbotson and more. Don't be disappointed if your DCs don't feel the love.

[SolidGold]

I loved Ballet Shoes. Really enjoyed the televised version a few years ago with Victoria Wood.

I also loved White Boots and all the Gemma books.

[SorrelForbes]

No, that was the Enid Blyton one with the whole family joining the circus. The N'S one is about two orphans, Peter and Santa and the uncle Gus.

[MadameDefarge]

oh yes uncle gus. the aunt whose annuity stopped on her death. grumpy gus. annoying kids. loved it.