Ballet Shoes is the most famous of Streatfeild’s “Shoes” books, and the best written, in my opinion. Pauline , Petrova and Posy Fossil (named after the bones collected by their archeologist benefactor) are given training in ballet in order to give them a trade to help support the family–but they have very different talents, and each has to discover her own course in life.
This is an excellent book for children who like details; many ins and outs of the theatre and dancing world are explained, including everything from stage directions to ballet terminology to nitty-gritty information about how the children’s earnings could be legally handled. It’s a delicate but keen survey of many types of personalities, as the girls grow up in a house with eight adults and learn to work with all the various people in the dancing and acting arena. Ballet Shoes is also simply an enjoyable story about three sisters and the fun and conflict they have together.
You may not be able to convince a boy to read this, but it’s not an excessively girly book, either. Ballet Shoes a solid, worthwhile classic that I enjoy now nearly as much as when I was in elementary school.