Ballet Shoes

 

Ballet Shoes / Noel Streatfeild; illus by Diane Goode
Bullseye Books, 1993, c1936.
281 p.

Shortly after my Susan Scarlett reading streak, I saw this hardcover illustrated edition of Ballet Shoes at the thrift store so thought I had better read it. Susan Scarlett was the pen name of Noel Streatfeild, and this is Streatfeild's best known children's book. 

So what did I think? Well, meh. It's the story of three young girls, all adopted by a dithery professor in his scientific journeys around the world. He dumps them off a home with a female relative and a housekeeper, then disappears again, for a long time, leaving them in financial straits. 

The three girls are all artistically inclined, and are sent to a dance school to learn a trade of sorts, from a very young age. The oldest, Pauline, is an actress, dancer and singer, and once she hits 12 she's happy that she can start earning money for the family. Petrova, the middle girl, resigns herself to dance training but her real love is mechanics; she dreams of being a pilot. Posy, the youngest, is a born dancer and has a one track mind where it is concerned. All three look forward to being able to contribute to the household after age 12, when children were allowed to work for pay. 

The book is nearly all women; from the girls to their 'aunt' and housekeeper, to the lodgers that they take in to help pay the bills (all except one), to the teachers and their friends at the school -- I liked this, it was interesting to see so many kinds of women represented. 

The book really goes into the daily grind of arts training -- you can tell that Streatfeild knows this world well. But honestly that detail was a bit boring, and the three young girls and their struggles aren't very engaging either, at least to me. Also the ending is a bit fairy godmotherish with the professor's return, everyone seems delighted to see him, not even angry that he disappeared and left them struggling for so long. I wasn't as impressed with that! I can't really see modern child readers bothering with this one. But as a classic I'm glad I read it even if I didn't end up loving it (and probably wouldn't have as a young reader either). This particular edition has lovely soft pencil illustrations and they were a great addition. I don't think I'll try any of her other children's books, though.