Saturday, November 10, 2012

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

Pauline, Petrova and Posy are found as orphaned babies in different parts of the world by eccentric fossil collector and explorer Gum. He adopts them, takes them to his London home and leaves them in the care of his niece Sylvia and the family Nurse. Then off he goes to continue his exploring, saying that he'll be back in five years' time. When the three little girls are old enough, they choose the surname Fossil for themselves and vow to make the name famous. At first they lead privileged and sheltered lives. But when Gum fails to return after five years, Sylvia's money begins to run out. First she is forced to take in some boarders - an engaging and eclectic mix of characters - but then she decides that the girls should go to acting school. This way they will be able to earn some money before they grow up. Pauline adores the school, as she dreams of becoming an actress. Petrova hates it, all she wants to do is learn about cars and planes and engines. Posy loves it too - she is born to be a dancer and the school is the perfect place for her. From Goodreads.

About a month ago I watched the film You've got mail for at least the 4th time. In this film when Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) is losing her bookshop, she is sitting in Joe Fox's (Tom Hanks) book store and a customer comes in asking about the shoe series. Kathleen Kelly's favourite is Ballet Shoes. So I decided I wanted to read it.
It is a very cute children's book although the children haven't got an easy life. They do know they are still better off than other children even at times when they have to work to support the family. They are 3 very different girls but of course all lovely in their own way and the description of the characters around them is also very good and you can't help but loving them all. It of course has a happy ending. Well worth a read even as an adult.
I will at some point check the other books in this series.

This book qualifies for:
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge,
2012 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge (number 125)

2 comments:

  1. Hmm, You've Got Mail is like one of my all time favorite movies, I've watched it at least four times, probably more. I just adore the final movie scene. It wells me up with tears every time I watch it, especially since I love dogs, too!

    Anyways, I never picked up on the Ballet Shoes reference. That's so cool. Now I want to read this one and see what its all about too. Thanks!

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  2. You are welcome. It is a lovely film.

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