Published originally under the title ‘Curtain Up’ in 1944 this is a worthy follow on book in the ‘Shoes’ series. My copy published in 1964 under that title was the one I read as a child and I had forgotten much of what happened. I enjoyed this reread and meeting Sorrel, Mark, Holly, Hannah, Alice and everyone else again. The Fossil girls from Ballet Shoes are not far away in this book and despite two of them being in America they all send letters to the children who are attending their old stage school.

quaintly old-fashioned, set and written during the last war - a more-of-the-same sequel to Ballet Shoes ...

Nostalgic pleasure, which I am seeking out as a way to escape current realities. I’m a fan of Streatfeild’s writing. Although ostensibly a children’s book, she includes psychological nuance and a wide range of characters in the story.

I liked the book. I also read Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, and that's a good book too. I think it's sort of funny how Mark keeps saying he'll be in the Navy . . . oops, not going to spoil! I'm just saying, you should read the Shoes series.

Maybe my assessment of this book is the measure of how long it took to finish it. I apologize if this has gotten fewer stars than it deserves. Theater Shoes takes place in the same school as Ballet Shoes. Some time has passed and the characters are different. I enjoyed the idea of the main characters and their situation. Unfortunately, I thought they were a bit dull. They had little individual voice and their actions and thoughts were very similar. It was more their talents or their ages which distinguished them. I found myself rereading passages to keep the characters straight. The supporting cast on the other hand was engaging and over-the-top. The story is set in the heart of London during 1943 and '43. This lends interesting details which kids may not have heard before. The plot gets a bit mushy in the middle, focusing more on the kids' careers than the kids themselves, but the end wraps up quickly in a typical Shoe Series style. I wouldn't recommend for reading aloud, but fans may enjoy this book and the cameos from book one.

This book is all charm and no harm.

Mary Noel Streatfeild wrote adult fiction and non-fiction, but her stories for children brought fame for their sweetness, memorable characters and descriptions of life in England from 1936 on. How the difficult war years were experienced to children makes for instructive, inspirational stories which are also full of humor.

Sorrel, Mark, and Holly are getting on with life after their mother’s early death, followed by their father’s going off to war with England’s Royal Navy. From the stodgy home of their Grandfather, a small-town vicar, they are moved with a beloved family housekeeper, Hannah, to the lavish but half-empty home of their glamorous, dramatic, and engaging Grandmother, a theater actress in London. It is a family of famous stage actors, dancers and singers. Grandmother sends them all to the Academy for further training.

Madame Fidolia, another flamboyant figure, helps them adjust to the new classes and she uncovers the talents in each child. They meet two cousins, Miriam and Miranda. Miranda is destined to be a big star –it’s obvious to all- but her ego is enormous. Miriam is practical and funny and only wants to dance. It turns out Mark has a fine singing voice but he always planned to go into the Navy like his father and Grandfather, an Admiral. He doesn’t care a whit for Shakespeare or Pantomime (theatrical performances like variety shows involving music, comedy, fairy tales, etc., popular in the day) He’s against the whole Academy thing and wants to go back to his boarding school where he can play proper cricket with his chums.

Sorrel, the eldest, goes through changes and discoveries over her 2 years in the story (from 12 to 14). Rations, coupons, worries about clothes for auditions, and needing to cut up evening gowns from the 30’s to make them, are seen through her eyes. From her point of view, the reader learns how children are trained and hired for work in performing arts of 1944 London. Holly, the youngest, provides humor for any reader who remembers what priorities are for when age 7-9.

As a girl who loved ballet lessons, my mother knew I’d cherish Ballet Shoes, the first of these books about youngsters who work on stage or radio to help their families earn money. I read it several times a year from age 7 to 10. Finding this and other “Shoes” books at Goodwill, I had to buy them and check them out.

Recommended for all ages.

This is a precious little book reminiscent of Ballet Shoes (the first of the Shoes books). Both books include three siblings trying to get by during difficult times.

“It’s good to have galoshes by you, there’s no knowing when the road will be wet” (47).

Set during the war, this English family experiences coupons, blackouts, bombings, rations, and more. It was interesting to read about these things and how they affected the day to day life of children and families. “Holly had never been able to grasp how coupons worked. Up till almost Christmas Day she hoped to buy soap for everybody, because she liked to smell it. When at last she realized that no matter what shop you went into they would all want soup coupons” (142).

This is only the second Shoes book I have read, but I hope to read them all!

I loved the wartime detail in this book, and the stage school setting. But the story doesn't hang together very well. The Fossils seem to have been shoehorned in, and I think it would have been better if they were just mentioned now and again as past pupils. The letter writing to the Forbes children didn't really add anything and just seemed to be a sop to children who had enjoyed Ballet Shoes.

I also found the pacing very strange. There was quite a big lead up to the children meeting their grandmother, but she didn't feature much for the rest of the book. There was also no real explanation as to why the Forbes children were struggling to afford things like an attaché case for school, when both of their aunts seemed very comfortably off and their cousins had everything they needed. It made the aunts look unkind, but yet they obviously weren't intended to come across like that.

The ending was also very rushed. In the space of a few pages we learnt that Mark was going back to his old school, Sorrel had decided she wanted to be an actress, and Holly had a future as a comedienne. Then the father arrived home and what should have been an emotional and dramatic climax just seemed to peter out.

I don't think Curtain Up is of the same standard as Ballet Shoes, but all Noel Streatfeild's books have a unique charm including this one.

I tend to watch You've Got Mail during the holiday season just to watch adorable Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly in the most wonderful whimsical children's bookshop in NYC. After the big bad box bookstore, FOX Books opens and effectively puts her shop out of business, Kathleen Kelly ambles over to check out FOX Books. While she is lamenting the loss of her shop, she overhears a customer looking for the Shoes books. She interrupts the sales clerk to say that they were wonderful, but most were sadly out-of-print.

The thing is Ryan's character, Kathleen Kelly isn't wrong. Noel Streatfeild's Shoes series were delightful and fantastically British. After watching the movie, I wanted to revisit these books that I loved as a girl. I remember that I started with Ballet Shoes and quickly moved to Dancing Shoes. I believe these are the novels that made me fall in love with England. I loved Family Shoes about the vicar and his four children. American books don't use the word vicar! I didn't know it at the time, but I was transfixed by British children's literature.

When Sorrel, Mark, and Holly's father is lost at sea and their eccentric grandfather dies, they are sent to live in London with their famous stage actress grandmother. They discover family they didn't know they had. I especially enjoyed that prior to moving to London, the children lived on the island of Guernsey, an island I have now visited. Their is something delicious about British orphans! When in the care of their grandmother, she insists that all three children will be trained for the stage. Sorrel discovers talent she didn't know she had. Theater Shoes is a very loose sequel to Ballet Shoes in that Pauline, Posy, and Petrova Fossil make small cameos in this novel. While this particular novel isn't as strong as either Ballet Shoes or Dancing Shoes, I still very much enjoyed it and I look forward to re-visiting more of Noel Streafeild.

~Audio book~

Lovely, sweet story. The books in this series definitely follow a pattern, and since they're read by the same voice actress they do sound similar, too. But we're always sad when one ends, so we look forward to reading the next. It was fun to hear from some old "friends" in this one. And there's a boy!

It takes us a few months to listen, as we only have a a little time each week to listen together in the car, my 11yo daughter and I. Plus it keeps getting automatically returned and we have to wait til it's available again at the library.

Pretty good, but not as good as Ballet Shoes (probably because it lacks the nostalgia factor for me). I bet I would’ve loved it as a kid.

I never read Noel Streatfeild's books when I was a child, but I see now why she's well regarded. In this one, I enjoyed the children's imaginations.