Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

 

Ballet Shoes: A Story of Three Children on the Stage. Noel Streatfeild. First Published 1936. 191 pages. Genre: Classic, Children's Literature.

First Line: "The Fossil sisters lived in the Cromwell Road."

Summary:  Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil are orphans who have been added to the household of Great Uncle Matthew.  While Great Uncle Matthew is traveling the world in search of artifacts, Nana and Sylvia run the household and care for the orphans.  Their lives get exciting when the three girls are accepted into the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training.  The girls make a vow to make a name for themselves.  Through hard work and sacrifice, they each learn that there is more than one way to make a name for yourself.  

My thoughts: This is a book I didn't know about until I was grown up.  But it is one I would have liked when I was young.  

Sylvia is the great-niece of Great Uncle Matthew, G.U.M. for short.  She was the first child to live in the house full of fossils.  She lived there with her mother and her nurse, Nana.  After her mother died, Sylvia became the caretaker of the house.  When G.U.M. is injured on one of his expeditions and can no longer search the land for fossils, he decides to take to the sea.  The first treasure he finds is Pauline, who was the only survivor besides himself when the ship they are sailing on hits an iceberg.  Naturally, he brings her home for Sylvia and Nana to take care of.  Petrova and Posy are collected along the way as well.

Soon the girls are old enough to be educated and some decisions need to be made.  Through a series of happy events, all three are accepted into the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training.  

Each of the girls is unique in her own way.  Pauline really acts like an oldest child, she follows the rules and looks out for her siblings.  Petrova tolerates dancing, but she would rather be working on a car or flying in an airplane.  And Posy is naturally gifted at dancing and thinks she is loved by everyone.  I appreciated how each of the girls were allowed to suffer the consequences of their behavior.  But my favorite character was Nana.  She keeps everyone in line and keeps the household running on a daily basis.  At times she seemed like a drill sergeant, but she had a tender heart for the girls. 

There is a lot of specific detail about the classes at the school and the plays that were performed.  I could see how some readers might find this boring.  I like that kind of detail and enjoyed being able to form a clear picture in my mind of what was happening.  

This was a fun, quick read that I would recommend. 

Quotes:

"Both doctors had lovely ideas about the sort of things to have in the middle of lessons - a meal they called a beaver.  They took turns to get it ready . Sometimes it was chocolate with cream on it, and sometimes Doctor Jakes' ginger drink, and once it was ice-cream soda; and the things to eat were never the same: queer biscuits, little ones from Japan with delicate flowers painted on them in sugar, cakes from Vienna, and specialties of different kinds from all over England."

"Pride has to come before a fall, and that's the law of nature; you've got your fall, and now you've got to be brave and get up again."