Three Forbes siblings ended up living with their long-lost maternal grandmother who arranged for them to attend the same dancing and theater school that the Fossil sisters had attended. It's been six years since we heard from the Fossil sisters but now, they are all adults living their dreams while being mentors to young students at the school. Their mother has past away so they were left to live with their paternal grandfather who passed away too. When Sorrel, Mark and Holly went to live with their grandmother, they learned about their mother's past and the Warren's family legacy as actors. I appreciate that the Forbes siblings look out for each other as they try to live a life they didn't want as they all miss their father who was missing in action during WWII.

I wanted to read this book because of the movie, “The Shop Around the Corner.” In that movie she says that she likes this series and that this book is her favorite. I’ve always liked the theatre and it was fun for me to read about children in the past learning at a school for actors. It was a believable story. It also showed the hardships of living during WWII. You have to have coupons or you couldn’t buy what you wanted. It was sad. I think that because we didn’t live through it, others will never truly understand. Just like we lived through the Covid pandemic and others will never truly understand either. **stop here for spoilers***
It is the story of a family of two girls and one boy who live with their grandfather. When he dies they go to live with their other family’s grandmother. The father is at war. They get a notice that their father has gone missing. They truly believe that he is still alive, but a little over a year goes by without him being found. He comes home at Christmas and that makes Christmas the best ever- great ending. We learn about how to do an audition. We hear about radio plays. Some people who made it in Hollywood give them scholarships to attend school. It’s a story like Robinson Crusoe - a classic.

BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can’t wait to share with my daughter someday!!!!!

1) This is a companion book to Ballet Shoes. While Pauline, Petrova, and Posy don't actually make an appearance in the book (aside from letters), their presence is felt throughout. And it's nice to find out what happened to the three after Ballet Shoes ends.

2) I love the story of Holly and the borrowed (or is it stolen?) attaché case. The children don't have the money for attaché cases and feel embarrassed because this marks them as different from the other students. The way Madame deals with the whole situation is beautiful. It's fair to the children and it's a fair way to deal with Holly's misdemeanor.

3) Alice is a delightful character who uses Cockney rhyming slang throughout the book (referring to money as "bees and honey" or feet as "plates of meat"). She helps the children deal with their aloof grandmother. I found it especially amusing that she always refers to the grandmother using the Royal-We!

4) Other characters I really like... Uncle Cohen is great, along with his wife Aunt Lindsay. And of course, Madame.

5) The family dynamic between the three children (Sorrel, Mark, and Holly) is nice. They stand up for each other, but the story is realistic enough to show their little tiffs and petty arguing moments.


FINAL THOUGHTS

This book is a re-read for me, and it's been many years since I first read it. I love, love, love Ballet Shoes by the same author. While this isn't quite Ballet Shoes, it is definitely worth the read.

A charming sequel of sorts to "Ballet Shoes," with the three Fossils indirectly assisting a trio of temporary orphans in wartime London during World War II. I loved "Ballet Shoes" and "Dancing Shoes" when I was younger, so this was a fun read as an adult.

A childhood favorite I'd forgotten how much I loved. It was so weird - I haven't read it in years, and yet in almost every single scene I knew exactly what was coming next, dialogue and everything.

Once I got past the name Sorrel, I enjoyed. Loved seeing all the siblings find their talent.

3.5

These books always feel like a warm hug, but this time the ending felt really rushed and open-ended.

100 years of books challenge - published in 1944

This is a very sentimental re-read for me. Streatfield's "Shoes" books were some of my favorites as a kid, and I wondered how they have held up for me over the many subsequent decades.

Verdict: still a fan!

I realized that my favorite books from childhood have some things in common. Ordinary girls, often poor, sometimes misunderstood by peers, work hard and discover hidden talents. They surprise others with their resilience and plucky attitudes and find ways to improve the situation of themselves and those around them. A few which come to mind:

*All of the main characters from the Shoes books
*Harriet the Spy
*Laura from the Little House books
*Jane Eyre
*Jo in Little Women
*Mrs. Piggle Wiggle (OK, I know she's not a "girl," but she is so fun and quirky and surprisingly wise! And the very neighbors who judged her as odd came to rely on her for magical cures.

Another fun thing about this book is its setting in London and specifically in the West End theatre district. The places which were once mythical to me are now very real. I've been to London (and I love it!) and I can picture the theatres and the very streets in this book.

So, if there are flaws to this book, nostalgia has obscured them from me. 5 stars for sure.

Streatfeild is able to create a voice that's charming and also exceptionally realistic about the business of acting, and I admire that so, so much. It may be time to reread some of the others, but I think this may be my favorite Shoes book so far.

This book is a direct sequel to Ballet Shoes, although I read it first this time around. It takes place about ten years after Ballet Shoes, in the middle of World War II. Sorrel, Mark, and Holly Forbes are living with their grandfather because their mother is dead and their father is in the Navy and has now gone missing. When their grandfather dies suddenly they are forced to go and live with their mother’s mother in London. She happens to be a famous actress along with the rest of the Warren family. She assumes that the three children will act as well and enters them in Madame Fidolia’s Children’s Academy of Dancing and Stage Training (at this point those who have read Ballet Shoes go “Aha!”). Sorrel worries because she knows that Mark wants to go into the Navy and their grandmother won’t hear of it. All the same, she grows to like Madame Fidolia’s, where she and Mark and Holly are given scholarships by the Fossil sisters.

I like Theatre Shoes a bit better than Ballet Shoes, mostly because the situation is a little less…absurd. None of the Forbes were rescued off of an iceberg. The characters, with the exception of one, are nicely delineated. Sorrel happens to be my favorite, probably because I am also an oldest child and so I relate to her worries. I also particularly like Hannah, the nurse, and Alice, grandmother’s old dresser. (As in, the woman who took care of her costumes, not the chest of drawers.)

Like Ballet Shoes, Theatre Shoes offers a nice glimpse into life at the time the story is set. It is hard to realize sometimes that even in England people suffered deprivations from the war. As it says at one point, even if they had had the money to buy anything, there simply wasn’t anything to be had.

Highly recommended.

I'm almost done. I liked it better in the beginning, in the set up, but now in the throes of actual performing I'm, personally, less keen. I like that I can read it as if it's historical fiction, and enjoy that it's not nearly so grim as most that actually is.

I have a bit of trouble with the date. 1942/3, and they're bringing children *into* London. All the classism, and the 'blood will tell,' also bothers me, probably more so because I'm American. And Mark - Sorrell takes it upon herself to remind everyone that he wants to go into the Navy; well, maybe he's realizing that there are other possibilities. (And why wish for him to risk his life, like their 'missing' father has done?)
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And done. The ending is all wrapped up in a bow. Except for Miranda; she'll be alone and miserable when not busy & when she gets too old for regular work.