The Noel Streatfeild Page
Who?? Noel Streatfeild isn't exactly mainstream, I know. But I love her books (I could say that I loved them as a kid, but I still read them, so I wouldn't be fooling anyone). Most of her fame comes from her Shoes series, headed by Ballet Shoes.
She's won the Carnegie Medal for outstanding children's fiction in Britian.
Books
Since this is just starting up, here's a list to get things started:
The Shoes Books
As of September 2001, some of these books are being republished, at least in the UK. Last week, I found Party Shoes and Tennis Shoes, previously pretty rare on the ground, at Borders. For those in the US still after these books, try special ordering.
- Traveling Shoes (originally Apple Bough)
- Circus Shoes (originally The Circus is Coming)
- Dancing Shoes (originally Wintle's Wonders)
- Skating Shoes (originally White Boots)
- Movie Shoes (was The Painted Garden)
- New Shoes (was New Shoes)
- Family Shoes (started out as The Bell Family or The Story of the Bell Family)
- Theater Shoes (Curtain Up, or Other People's Shoes)
- Tennis Shoes
- Ballet Shoes
The Gemma Series
These are fairly difficult to find in the US, but are very readily found in the UK, if you can get by the garish covers of the newest reprints. The older versions are easier on the eye, but the series remains a very good one - a look at what happens in a ordinary, if talented family, when their cousin Gemma, a movie star, comes to stay with them.
- Gemma
- Gemma and Sisters
- Gemma in Love
- Gemma Alone
Autobiographical
- Beyond the Vicarage
- Vicarage Family
- Gran-Nannie
- Away from the Vicarage
Other Books
- Party Shoes or Party Frock: but not a "shoes" book
- Thursday's Child, and its sequel, Far to Go
- When the Sirens Wailed
- The Children on the Top Floor
- The Magic Summer or The Growing Summer
- The Family at Caldicott Place
- The Children of Primrose Lane
- The Children's Matinee
- Ballet Shoes for Anna
- Boy Pharoh Tuthenkamon
- The Maitlands
- Mothering Sunday
- Lisa goes to Russia
- First Book of Ballet
- First Book of Opera
- First Book of London
- Queen Victoria
- The Theater Cat