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A review by elle4352
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
5.0
The Ballet Shoes is an adorable and endearing tale of three young girls sure to warm the hearts of readers young and old.
Pauline, Petrova and Posy are all three young girls made to be sisters when their guardian, GUM, brings all of them home under strange circumstances. The book follows the girls from infancy to their early to late teen lives as GUM is away on some unspoken voyage and the girls are raised their guardian Sylvia her governess Nana, and eventually the house boarders that come to live with them when they are financially pressed. The girls eventually begin to take dance lessons at a dance academy nearby and the story is generally about each girl finding her passion in life
The story is told in an episode-like way. Little snippets of their experiences performing as well as memorable moments in their lives move our story along and, personally, I love books that take this approach to story telling. Fans of books like A Little Princess, Little House on the Prairie, and the Penderwicks will love to watch the girls succeed on the stage, to watch their falls, their trials, and their triumphs.
My only grievance with the novel is Posy. While the two older girls are rather selfless and embody a spirit of determination, drive and compassion, Posy is self absorbed and rather oblivious to anyone’s wants, desires, or feelings other then her own. By the end of the book I found myself warmed by the older girls prospects in life, but truly Posy’s character experiences no growth and no sense of remorse for being unfeeling, thus making her seem very cold and putting a rather unpleasant damper on what is otherwise is a whimsical, vintage fairytale
Pauline, Petrova and Posy are all three young girls made to be sisters when their guardian, GUM, brings all of them home under strange circumstances. The book follows the girls from infancy to their early to late teen lives as GUM is away on some unspoken voyage and the girls are raised their guardian Sylvia her governess Nana, and eventually the house boarders that come to live with them when they are financially pressed. The girls eventually begin to take dance lessons at a dance academy nearby and the story is generally about each girl finding her passion in life
The story is told in an episode-like way. Little snippets of their experiences performing as well as memorable moments in their lives move our story along and, personally, I love books that take this approach to story telling. Fans of books like A Little Princess, Little House on the Prairie, and the Penderwicks will love to watch the girls succeed on the stage, to watch their falls, their trials, and their triumphs.
My only grievance with the novel is Posy. While the two older girls are rather selfless and embody a spirit of determination, drive and compassion, Posy is self absorbed and rather oblivious to anyone’s wants, desires, or feelings other then her own. By the end of the book I found myself warmed by the older girls prospects in life, but truly Posy’s character experiences no growth and no sense of remorse for being unfeeling, thus making her seem very cold and putting a rather unpleasant damper on what is otherwise is a whimsical, vintage fairytale