Huh! Just when I'd figured out how to see who'd been kind enough to rate my reviews, ciao's managed ...
Huh! Just when I'd figured out how to see who'd been kind enough to rate my reviews, ciao's managed to make my new reviews say 'this review has not yet been rated'!!! SORT IT OUT CIAO!
Member since:23.07.2009
Reviews:77
Members who trust:33
I first read Ballet Shoes when I was eight. It was the first of Noel Streatfield's books I'd read, and it remains my favourite. I put it away during my teenage years and forgot about it until Christmas 2007 when I watched the BBC adaptation with Emma Watson.
I went to Indonesia and got the film on knock-off DVD, and immediately after watching I rang home to get my parents to order me a copy. It was a great welcome home.
The book opens with 'Garnie' moving into a huge mansion, filled with fossils. She and her nurse (Nana) are moving in with her uncle. You don't really get any of their story until one day her uncle Matthew arrives home from a trip with a package, containing of all things... a baby! They agree to take the baby and name her Pauline.
Once Pauline is a bit older, and Great Uncle Matthew (GUM) is away again, another package arrives. In this package is another baby, a dark haired little thing whom they decide to call Petrova - GUM had sent a letter saying she was Russian.
The third and final addition to the family is a pretty little red-headed baby who arrives with a pair of ballet slippers, and a name - Posy.
The three girls hero-worship GUM, they see themselves as his collection, and in respect of this they choose the surname Fossil as they were collected just like his other fossils. Petrova comes up with a vow to honour the name fossil as it's theirs and theirs only, and no-one can say it's because of their grandfather.
Garnie and Nana bring the girls up, but over the years the money that GUM had left inevitably begins to run short and Garnie makes the decision to take in lodgers. The lodgers are: Mr and Mrs Simpson, with their car; Theo, a fairly Bohmeian dancer; and the two doctors, academics, Drs Jake and Smith.
I don't want to give the story away, I really do think this is one of those books you just have to read (it'll not take you long!). Needless to say the story unfolds, going through many ups and downs, focusing on each of the Fossil sisters' stories as well as the whole family. It's very well written, with good character development and a fairly solid story line. It is a childrens book, and from the 1930s, so the story is lovely and clean; I like the innocence, but appreciate that many people now see this sort of book as dated.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: makes the war be seen in a different light Disadvantages: only small writing in most of the editions, get a modern one with bigger writing.
Advantages: makes the war be seen in a different light Disadvantages: only small writing in most of the editions, get a modern one with bigger writing.
Sep 2nd, 2009
very helpful by (94%):
helpful by (6%):
