Any recommendations for ballet-themed novels for an 8 year old?

[castille]

Aside from "Ballet Shoes" of course, which she has read.

She is also reading the Royal Ballet School Diaries for the zillionth time, and it's about time she read something else, frankly!

Ideas, anyone?

[TheArmadillo]

Ballet Shoes for Anna, by Noel Streatfield is one I remember reading at about that age.

www.amazon.co.uk/Ballet-Shoes-Collins-Modern-Classics/dp/0006753981/ref=sr_1_2/203-3652465-3064748?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 e=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190631738&sr=1-2

[trio31]

Hello - I was a ballet mad bookworm at this age so I have a few suggestions. Noel Streatfield wrote a few other ballet themed books - Ballet Shoes for Anna was one but I a pretty sure I remember others.

Jean Estoril's Drina books are wonderful - the first one is called ' Ballet for Drina' I think - there was a series of about 7 set in a London ballet school and various exotic locations around the world.

Also well worth seeking out are Lorna Hill's series of books about aspiring ballerinas set in Northumbrian border country. Terribly formulaic but I absolutely loved them! Sadly they are out of print (I think I got into them via my Mum's old copies, then they were reprinted around 1989)but well worth tracking down on ebay or in charity / second hand shops.
Happy reading to your DD !

[MintyDixCharrington]

I love the Lorna Hill books! The first one was A Dream of Sadlers Wells... then there was one called No Castanets at the Wells (!) and a couple in between I can't remember. I must have read them 10,000 times. Also had ponies in it - perfect combo for an 8 year old...

[Anna8888]

The Gemma series by Noël Streatfield.

[RosaLuxembourg]

A lot of Noel Streatfeild's books are out of print as are the Lorna Hill books and the Drina books (by Jean Estoril) but there are loads of secondhand copies about, well worth searching Abebooks for. Some of the later Drina ones go for £££s on Ebay though. I have picked them all up in charity shops but it takes time and patience.
There is also a series called Louisa by Adele Geras here and Harriet Castor's ballerina series again out of print but cheap to pick up. DD1 particularly liked those.

[littleboo]

The lorna hill's series were fab i remember absolutely loving them as a child, don't know if you get some used ones on amazon?

[Anna8888]

Out of print books are often available in libraries.

[castille]

Great, they all sound perfect. I wonder why so many of them are out of print? It's her birthday soon, so I look them all up and seeing what I can get hold of.

Many thanks all!

[popsycal]

drina

[bookwormtailmum]

Antonia Barber also writes modern ballet stories - they're quite readable even from an adult perspective .

[pooka]

Blimey. Just did a search on noel streatfeild on Amazon and my goodness it brought back memories. Rather loved thursday's child, and of course, the shoes series. Particularly keen on White Boots - seemed very far removed from Streatham Ice Rink on a Saturday morning.

[Flibbertyjibbet]

She sounds like me when I was about 11... sigh...

[Tamum]

I got lots of Noel Streatfeild and others on Abebooks- they are wonderful

[GreebosWhiskers]

Usborne has a whole series called Ballerina Dreams - just scroll down a little. They're very popular & for about 8+.

[LieselVentouse]

when did this appear? please dont tell me its always been here

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

This is in Adult Fiction - what exactly goes on in these ballet books...

[castille]

oops yes, noticed the category error too late!

Usborne and Antonia Barber books look good too. Thanks!

[fuzzywuzzy]

Do they have to be incredibly serious?? I remember reading ballet themed books as a child, they were called scrambled legs I think, about a group of friends who do ballet....deffo not as highbrow as the other suggestions but funny light reads with a ballet theme

[MrsBadger]

oh yrs, the Scrambled Legs ones were rather good - I read my little sister's. They call the evil cliquey girls Bunheads...

[tyaca]

there is a great anthology called Ballet Stories, ed Harriet Castor, which has chapters from a dozen of the best ballet books.

when my sister, aged 19, was doing a gap year in australia, i sent it to her as an xmas present and, even at that aged age, she was most grateful

i nabbed it on her return and it rarely leaves my loo.

it's all kids stories, a couple of which may be a bit old for your daughter, but a great place to start.

[epsombooks]

Hi - Not sure if anyone wants to purchase Usborne Books but I can get them for you. Please check on www.usborneonline.org/bevhorkan

[justagirlfromedgware]

I second (third?) the Noel Streatfield (I must have read ALL her books - is that a record?) and Lorna Hill recommendations and the good news is that www.abebooks.co.uk/ has plenty of options to purchase both at very low prices www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=lorna+hill&sortby=3&sts=t&tn=wells&x=0&y=0(Abebooks.co.uk is an excellent second hand market website that isn't in the thrawl of Amazon, much as I like Amazon ).

n.b. their Community section is great if you vaguely remember a book, but not its title. I am still amazed at someone guessing from my vague description that I was looking for the brilliant French children's book 'The Mystery of the Cross-Eyed Man'. Nothing to do with ballet by the way, I had eclectic taste as a child .

[justagirlfromedgware]

By the way, it's the 'Book Sleuth' section you want for finding a book you cannot remember the details of forums.abebooks.co.uk/abesleuthuk.

[Bink]

Don't you find Noel Streatfeild just a tiny bit odd? - the precision about prescriptive uniform ("all girls aged over eight had to have four tunics, not longer than knee length, two in blue serge and two in an infinitesimally darker shade of blue serge that you'd not have been able to spot the difference unless you had a special gift and so deserved to be at the school. The darker ones were for Wednesday barre practice") and cost ("the children in the Saturday classes had to bring 2/4 with them each fortnight, and if they were doing tap it was an extra 9d").

It all reminds me of an acquaintance who had, you know, a palace job, and the stories he told about the mortification of being found wearing the subtly-wrongly-lapelled dress coat.

Not to be misunderstood, this all is part of the addictive charm (of NS, not the Palace), but don't you think it is curious?

[FlossCampi]

LORNA HILL

definitely

but there is Nicola... someone... who also wrote ballet books, but with equal emphasis on the life going on outside the practice room. Something about Mouse - Supermouse?

I think they were all OBSESSED with cost in those days (i.e. pre about 1960 oh dear or is Streatfeild set later than that? I blame brain-cell loss through age and child-bearing if so). Have just read a set of George Orwell essays in which anything purchaseable may not pass through the narrative without having its commercial price noted and, usually, commented upon extensively.