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A review by cocoonofbooks
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
4.0
I picked up this book after it was recommended several times by [a:Anne Bogel|6537850|Anne Bogel|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], and it was worth the read. It's one of those Depression-era children's books that tout the value of hard work in the midst of poverty, but that doesn't make it inapplicable to today's children by any means. There's a bit of suspension of disbelief required, given that the main characters are constantly landing the theatre and dancing parts they try out for, but this is tempered with realism (Petrova is not talented like her sisters, though her hard work is enough to land her minor parts) and the jobs only allow them to help their household scrape by — they are constantly budgeting and calculating and trying to help their guardian make ends meet.
As an adoptive parent, I've gone back and forth on whether this would be a good book to read with my kids. (I listened to it on audiobook with my 5-week-old while feeding him, but that hardly counts!) On the one hand, it's great to see adopted children as the main characters of a book; on the other hand, their situation is very different — they're orphans, they consider the woman who cares for them their guardian, not their parent, and they create a brand-new last name for themselves to distance themselves from her. Ultimately I think it would be good to read and discuss unless I have a child who's particularly sensitive about their identity as an adopted child.
It's not a book I'd go out of my way to rave about, but it's worth a read. There are plenty of funny lines and moments, and the virtues it promotes are still valuable today. Also, the audiobook narrator is excellent and does the various characters' accents well.
As an adoptive parent, I've gone back and forth on whether this would be a good book to read with my kids. (I listened to it on audiobook with my 5-week-old while feeding him, but that hardly counts!) On the one hand, it's great to see adopted children as the main characters of a book; on the other hand, their situation is very different — they're orphans, they consider the woman who cares for them their guardian, not their parent, and they create a brand-new last name for themselves to distance themselves from her. Ultimately I think it would be good to read and discuss unless I have a child who's particularly sensitive about their identity as an adopted child.
It's not a book I'd go out of my way to rave about, but it's worth a read. There are plenty of funny lines and moments, and the virtues it promotes are still valuable today. Also, the audiobook narrator is excellent and does the various characters' accents well.